Mutiny?
by Batmanskipper
Summary: Kowalski, Private, and Rico have pleaded guilty and convicted of mutiny and Skipper will be forced to execute them unless he can prove their innocence whatever it takes. Skipper is torn between his duty to his men and his duty to the penguin code.
1. My Duty as a Leader

**I decided to start updating some of my older stories, correct the spelling and grammar and stuff like that. I'm starting with Mutiny, and then I'll probably move on to the Greater Good.**

"This court martial is now in session." announced an emotionless Skipper. "You are hereby charged with unlawful mutiny, the use of classified weapons without permission from a senior officer and the assault of a senior officer. How do you plead?"

"Guilty." Kowalski and Private replied in unison. Rico made a grunt to the same effect. Skipper looked like he'd been sat on by Burt. "But, men," Skipper stuttered, "you know what the punishment is for mutiny? You're not guilty right? Off the record? I..."

"Skipper, I'm sorry." returned Kowalski, though it took all his will power to force the words from his beak, "but that is our final decision." The HQ was silent for a few seconds. Finally Skipper spoke.

"You are hereby remanded to the custody of Joey."

Death thought Skipper. Death was the punishment for mutiny. The first crime and punishment listed in the penguin code. Assault and battery of a senior officer, namely him, held the same. That, but not mutiny. What had he done to his men to force them to do such a thing? Skipper stared at his empty coffee cup. Empty, just like the base, now the team wasn't there. He knocked the mug off the table with a single flipper. It clattered to the floor. He should be the one on trial, but for what? He had always thought of himself as a good leader, a little soft on them, at times, especially Private, but a honest and just leader. Skipper stood up, pacing the room. The worst part of this nightmare was that he would have to be the one to dispense justice: judge, jury and executioner. There was only him. His senior officer, Special Agent Buck Rotgut had lost his sanity, taking with him the right to command, as stated in the penguin code, and the name of his senior officer. In the penguin operation you only knew the name of your senior officer and the names of your team, that way you couldn't compromise the rest of the operation if you talked.

Skipper sat up in his bunk. He couldn't sleep. What was his duty? To his men or to the law? He was taught at the Academy, that it was his duty, above all else, to dispense justice when necessary. However, he had learned the hard way, in the field, that the lives of his men were his first priority. Skipper climbed down from his bunk. Manfridi and Johnson. Denmark. Could he bear to lose another team by his own wing? He climbed the ladder and opened the fishbowl entrance. He had to talk to someone. Marlene.

He and Marlene had a bit of a strained relationship but she was the one he trusted the most. He had met Marlene after he had married. He'd loved his wife but had never wanted to get that serious. In fact the only reason he married her as he hadn't the heart to tell her this. He had compromised her dignity and she had travelled all the way from Madagascar with him. He figured he'd be able to live with her. Then he met Marlene. It was just after he'd returned to his post after having left his wife at the home they'd bought in the South of France. That was the policy for all penguin ops brides, no living within 1000 miles of the officer, and for once he was glad for the regulations. He could resist the temptation no longer, and a small affair with Marlene. But they both felt guilty and decided to break it off. It was the honourable thing to do. Then she died. His wife. His responsibility. His fault.

It was five years ago. Skipper was frustrated. The girl of his dreams lived next door and he couldn't bear to file a divorce. It would kill his wife. He was frustrated because he and Marlene couldn't talk anymore because of that damn affair. He was angry because he had repeated the mistake he made with his wife on Marlene, leaving her dignity compromised too. The phone rang. He answered it. It was her. He could hear her tapping "Skipper, it's an emergency! Listen..." he hung up. His wife spoke only in Morse code. He had found it cute when they first met but now it was just infuriating. The last thing he wanted to hear was his wife tapping on with how she'd lost their life savings at the casino, or how the house burned down. He dealt with worse as his day job!

However, if he had picked up the phone he would have discovered that his wife had called to tell him that her house was surrounded by lobsters. Two weeks later he was in the middle of a battle with Blowhole when the crazed villain did the last thing he expected and dragged his wife into the field of battle, holding a laser gun to her head. Skipper knew what Blowhole's demands would be even before he spoke. As much as he hated to allow his arch enemy to escape, he was forced to tell his men to stand down. Blowhole backed over to the edge of the dock and into an escape pod. The danger was passed. Then he shot her. Without any provocation. The last glimpse of her Skipper caught before she was reduced to ashes was a terrified stare that screamed, "Save me."

He knocked on Marlene cave. She was awake and beckoned him to enter. "Marlene I'm sorry to bother you it's just..." Marlene looked up. Skipper was on the verge of breaking down. "It's okay. I understand," Marlene said.

"It is my duty to protect the lives of my men and my duty to uphold the code. I...I…don't understand what could I have done to make them…?"

"Why don't you start from the beginning."


	2. The Mutiny

I had originally awoken for a glass of water, but when I heard suspicious noises coming from the Classified Weapons Storage Area, I decided to investigate. I at first I assumed Ringtail had mistaken it for the fridge and was trying to get in (good luck with that), but it still, one day he might just get lucky. However, the door, which was normally padlocked, bolted, and whatever other locking devices Kowalski had, well you get what I mean, was open. I pressed myself against the edge of the door frame, concealing myself from anyone inside the room without limiting my own visibility, and carefully looked around the edge of the door. Inside I could see Kowalski, Rico and Private, all with their backs to me, talking in low whispers. "What are those?" asked Private.

"Quantum field hand held plasma canons, oh and an invisibility ray," Kowalski replied.

"I thought there was only one?"

"That's what Skipper thinks. Anyway, if they come after us, we're going to need the best handheld protection there is. I'm sure you've already assumed that the invisibility ray is for stealth."

"I hate having to do this to Skippah."

"So do I, Private, but it's the only way out."

"Kowalski, Rico...Private!" I exclaimed. It was clear now that this was no meeting to discuss a surprise birthday party, but something far more sinister.

"We've been compromised," yelled Kowalski as he charged forward and pinned me to the floor, "Rico, rope!" The weapons specialist regurgitated a length of rope and tossed it to Kowalski, just as I kicked the taller penguin off of me.

"Kowalski what are you doing! Talk to me soldier!" I shouted in desperation. Kowalski's expression made clear that, though it hurt him to do this, he wasn't going to stop. This seemed strange to me, they knew they couldn't take me. I guess some part of me clung to the hope that they had taken invitation to surprise attack me for training purposes a little too seriously. It was then that it dawned on me that he was probably he was relying off the fact that I wouldn't kill them, and that my loyalty would prevent me from fighting back as vigorously as I would was I threatened with a visit to the doctor. But should I? "I'm not afraid to take out one of my own men Kowalski. Just like Manfridi and Johnson."

"I know Skipper," replied Kowalski, his voice cracking, "I won't hold it against you. You do your duty and I'll do mine. Private! Quantum hyper-cute. Now."

"I'm sorry Skippah." Private whispered before everything went black.

I awoke up to find myself bound flipper and foot on the floor. The ropes, however, were fairly lose. I smiled slightly, it was probably Private's handiwork ,"He wouldn't have the heart to cause me any pain," I thought. That was when I heard footsteps on the concrete island above. I struggled against the ropes until I got a flipper lose. After that it wasn't hard to free myself, but should I go after them? It was my duty. Like Kowalski said "You do your duty and I'll do mine." I tried the various entrances. All locked. I looked for a weapon, anything I could use to get one of the doors open with or provide me with an advantage in a fight. All the small arms were gone and the big ones spiked. However, there was one weapon, nobody but me knew still existed. I pressed three of the bricks on the wall by the side of my bunk. A hidden panel opened. Inside was a laser pistol. The one Blowhole had used to murder my wife. I had sworn I would never use it but I had no choice. I picked up the weapon. The steel was cold against my flipper. As cold and heartless as Blowhole had been when he shot her… Stop it. I had to focus on the task at hand. I started to cut through the lock on the fishbowl entrance. I opened the hatch.

They jumped into the water and across to the other side. I pointed the laser pistol at Kowalski as tears blurred my vision. "Stop or I will kill you Johnson." I could see Manfridi and Johnson in front of me. Manfridi holding the rifle and Johnson looking at Manfridi desperately as I held a knife to his throat. Kowalski looked over his shoulder at me. I snapped back to reality. "Listen to me Kowalski, I don't want to but I will," my gun hand shook with emotion, "I will count to ten. All three of you will stop, drop your weapons, and put your flippers above your head." 1... They kept walking...2...They weren't stopping...3...They have weapons! Why don't they just shoot me, and save me the agony of shooting them...4...5...6...Could I shoot them?...7...Duty Skipper, think of the code...8...If they force me I will shoot...9...10...They stopped. They did as I had told them. Then I marched them back to the HQ, and restrained them as the code described. I had assumed that by taking them in I was saving them. They would have a good reason. A reason, even if it wasn't good. Then the team would go back to normal

Marlene looked at Skipper. She watched as the man, who was the centre of the world to her held back tears. The scars on his back rippled as struggled against his feelings. She placed a paw on him, and he couldn't hold back any more. "It's okay Skipper. It's okay. Look, I know it hurts…" she did her best to comfort the ex-leader.

"No it's not." the penguin snapped, "I have to execute them first thing in the AM. How could you possibly understand how I feel?" Marlene froze. Skipper, however, for once realised just how much his words hurt. "I'm sorry Marlene. I…"

Kaboom! Boom! Bang! Boom! Boom! Boom! Kaboom

The sound came from Joey's habitat. "Prison break," thought Skipper, but who would be crazy enough to try to break the penguins out? They'd have to face Joey, someone even he couldn't beat in single handed combat. He doubted it was any of his team. Something about their attitude told him they wouldn't try to escape. Regardless, rules and regulations... Then there was the explosion. It sounded sloppy. Rico was a perfectionist when it came to his 'kabooms', he wouldn't do something so unprofessional. Skipper stood up and ran towards the kangaroo habitat. Who could be trying to break out the penguins?


	3. There's Something Fishy About This

"RINGTAIL!" Skipper shouted at the lemur, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Explosives are for authorized personnel only. How did you even get them?"

"I am breaking thee crazay penguins out of de kangaroo house," replied King Julian, "The sky spirits gave me de explosives when dey told me that de penguins could fix de smoothie maker." The clueless lemur explained.

"Ringtail this is serious."

"Yes," added Mason who just 'happened' to be walking by, "Quite serious. What do you propose to do about it?"

"Well..." Skipper had made the wrong decision about what to do with his team. Now that the shock had worn off he realized this. He wasn't going to lock up the lemur too, "He…" Skipper desperately tried to come up with a decent excuse, " He isn't responsible for his actions, he's um well..." Phil signed something to mason. "An insanity defence eh. Well it's a rather poor excuse, but I'm sure everyone here will be willing to turn a blind eye. I wonder Phil, those penguins do seem quite crazy." The chimpanzee franticly winked at the, still confused, penguin.

"Okay show's over everyone back to bed," Skipper ordered gruffly, having recovered from the shock, "Mason, Phil, stop literally following the case, give the men some privacy." Skipper walked up to Joey. "I'll take over."

"Thanks mate," Joey called over his shoulder as he followed the blasting music to the lemur habitat. Skipper rushed over to the cage in which the hay was kept, that held his team.

"Listen men, tonight you're going to mount an insanity defence. I know it's a little farfetched but I just need some kind of excuse for the log. Everyone will go along with it." Skipper whispered.

"We are guilty. You always taught us not to avoid a slap." Private replied, his eye's studying the dirt floor.

"Private, this is different. Now, will you just tell me why?" the incarcerated penguins looked at each other. None of them wanted to start. Finally Private broke the silence.

"I'll start:

_It was three weeks ago. I had met a girl. We both wanted to settle down. You know, that dream cottage I always wished for. I had been putting it off, but when I found out she was with egg... I had to leave the team. I was rehearsing my explanation to Skipper in the mirror when Kowalski walked in._

_"You do know they won't let you leave," Kowalski shook his head sadly, "we all know too much."_

_"But Special Agent Rockgut is gone. Skipper can do as he pleases." I replied, slightly puzzled. Kowalski wasn't normally this melancholy, that was, unless he had just gotten off the phone with Doris._

_"Skipper may not know who he works for but Rockgut's boss knows about Skipper and definitely knows how much we know about Blowhole. The only way out is to take over."_

_"Couldn't I just desert? Skippah could tell them I was missing in action?"_

_"We both know better than that. Since the incident with Marlene he's stuck to the rules. We have to take over. Tell everyone Skipper lost it and dissolve the team." I took a deep breath. I was agreeing to overthrow Skipper. He was like a father to me. _

_"Okay. If it's the only way...I'll do it."_

"Wait a minute," Kowalski's brow furrowed, "Three weeks ago I was in Florida."

"How could you be in Florida? I remember seeing you about the HQ," replied a confused Private.

"So do I," added Skipper.

"I was definitely in Florida," returned Kowalski.

"Well, Kowalski, why were you in Florida, if you really were in Florida," asked Skipper, returning to his old sceptical and paranoid self.

_I was in the lab working on a few inventions when Private came in with a letter for me. "Someone left this in the fishbowl. It's addressed to you." I opened the letter. It was from my cousin Henry. The letter told me that he was working on an important invention and needed my help. I couldn't turn down an invitation to help Henry. He has the coolest lab I've ever seen! Anyway, I told Rico cover for me. I would only be gone about two days. Rico would keep telling you I was in the lab and couldn't be disturbed. It wouldn't be unusual for me. However, when I got to Florida, Henry wasn't there. However, I did run into an old friend from the academy. You remember Captain James 'Chuffy' Chuffnell, well now he's Major Chuffnell, but he told me that Skipper is a sleeper agent that had been feeding information about my inventions to Blowhole. I told him he had to have it wrong. Then he showed me some documents that contained the details of the mind wipe process used on Skipper and photographs of some of my original sketches for the Stopwatch that had been found during a raid on Blowhole's hideout. Only two people had access to those, Skipper and myself. I returned to the HQ as fast as I could. I started to work on the options for preventing Skipper from doing any more harm. Rico saw me and, for reasons he didn't explain, wanted to join. Private came to me the next day and told me that he excepted my proposal. I assumed Rico had told him. _

Private looked at his leader cautiously, as if he was a bomb about to explode. "Don't worry, it's safe to tell Skipper. He's only programed to remove the plans. He won't try to silence us." Kowalski replied. Private let out a sigh of relief.

"Kowalski, I don't know how to tell you this but...," Skipper looked up at his lieutenant, a sad expression on his face, "Chuffy has been dead fifteen years."

"Then who did I talk to. He seemed just like old Chuffy, a little older and more decorated, but still good old Chuffy." Kowalski protested.

"I don't know Kowalski," Skipper answered, "but those blueprints were taken by Blowhole when he attacked the HQ, after I was Mindjacked. I'm no sleeper agent."

"That's true Kowalski. I saw them stolen," confirmed Private. Rico made a grunt that conveyed the same answer.

"Rico what's your story?" Skipper asked in an attempt to distract Kowalski from the painful topic of Chuffy's passing.

"Miss Perky," Rico grunted.

"Miss Perky told you to?" asked Private. Rico nodded. Kowalski nodded thoughtfully.

"Skipper, I think I have some possible explanations."


	4. Options, Kowalski, we need options!

"Well Skipper, considering the fact that we all seem to have been talking to people who aren't really there, I can safely assume that we are being impersonated. My only other possibility is that one of us is actually a space squid," Kowalski informed his leader.

"I'll take possibility number one." replied Skipper, who was now smiling, "Kowalski, more options concerning the last options."

"I can only think of one, Skipper. Blowhole is using his hard light projector suit and voice modulator to masquerade as myself and Chuffnell. In that event, we hunt down Blowhole and force him to confess thus dropping the charges against us."

"I like it," A confident Skipper told his team, "Commence: operation de-dolphin this habitat."

* * *

"Joey, there's been a change in plans. The entire team is needed. Release the prisoners," Skipper ordered the marsupial.

"What are they needed for?" Joey replied.

"That's classified."

"Wait a minute, that guy over there who claims to be your boss or something says they stay right where they are." the aforementioned penguin turned to face Skipper who had to hold back an expression of pure horror. General Carson. The one officer who terrified him as a cadet. Skipper's off the books, post-trial assignment would be a no go with him around.

"General Carson sir!" Shouted Skipper as he stood to attention. General Carson marched over, inspecting the younger officer.

"At ease." the general replied. Skipper relaxed slightly but kept his back strait and didn't look the other penguin in the eye. "What is the time?"

"0715 sir."

"If you recall capital offense no.1, section 6, appendix 15 in the Penguin Code it states that all prisoners are to be executed at 0600 hours, the day after the trial unless an appeal is made before 2300 on the day of the trial. Explain you have not carried this out. Did you sleep in?" questioned the senior officer.

"They are needed on a mission, concerning penguin enemy no. 3 sir."

"In other words you've gotten soft. You can't bear to take out one of your own."

"No sir."

"Very well. Open the gate." Carson ordered as he handed Skipper a gun. Skipper turned his back to his commanding officer and faced Kowalski who had been released from his cell.

"Present arms..." General Carson shouted, "Aim...Fire!"

A bang erupted at the sound of the last word, but not the one everyone had expected. At the last minute Skipper had thrown a stun grenade in the direction Joey and the general were standing in. Immediately, Skipper grabbed his stunned lieutenant, the two running towards the other penguins. When they were fairly close to the cage Skipper shot the lock.

"Rico, four grappling guns!" He had given these to Rico the night before. Sometimes paranoia did pay off. As they grappled to freedom the general picked up a radio. "Penguins know as Kowalski, Rico and Private...cough...cough...are wanted for escaping lawful imprisonment...cough...cough...Skipper for assisting. They are armed and extremely dangerous. Deadly force is authorized. Over." he choked.

* * *

"What do you mean this wasn't your plan?" Skipper yelled at the dolphin across from him.

"Do you have a hearing problem pen-gu-in? I said you've gotten your evil plots and conspiracies confused. I did not impersonate Kowalski and I didn't set your friends up. I wish it was my plan but it's not!" Blowhole snapped. The penguins had trashed Blowhole's base with a vengeance until he had finally managed to trap them in cage, which was one of the few things in the lair that still somewhat resembled its former self. "So why should I believe you?" Skipper demanded sarcastically.

"Firstly, psychological set ups aren't my forte. If you're looking for one of those go ask the not-so-psychic hen. Secondly the," the dolphin hit a button on his Segway.

"DIABOLIGIZER," it boomed. Blowhole growled with annoyance, then hit another button. "HARD LIGHT PROJECTOR SUIT."

"That's better, was stolen six months ago. I've been trying everything to get it back."

The villainous dolphin looked at the cage, only just noticing it was empty, "Damn," he muttered to himself just before he was removed from his transport by a kick to the face. He immediately flopped over to a pool of water in the centre of the room and disappeared. Rico grunted, pointing at the pool as if to say "should we go after him?"

"No," Skipper replied wearily, "our objective is to clear our names." The penguins began to make their way towards the exit.

* * *

They had been walking for some time in the direction of one of Skipper's safe-houses when someone behind them shouted, "I've got you now White Widow!" followed by crazed laughter. The penguins turned around. Skipper immediately shone his torch at the speaker. "Special Agent Buck Rockgut!?" He exclaimed, surprised.

"White. Black and white. White fur. White Widow!" The figure charged at them. He had Private down before any of the other penguins could process what was happening. Immediately the figure dove into the shadows. Two flippers reached out of the darkness, on the opposite side of the ally to where Rockgut had disappeared, grabbing Kowalski and knocking him out all in a matter of seconds. Skipper and Rico looked at each other. Both were trying to hold back their fear, but they were up against the most famous penguin commando in history. They looked behind them. The rock hopper penguin was simply standing there muttering to himself, "White Widow. Albino spider-monkey. Last sighted June 17, 1968…" and other facts concerning the current penguin enemy no. 1.

Rico charged, his flippers flying. In the next few seconds he displayed every punch, kick, and secret move he knew; regurgitating every weapon he could think of. It took Rockgut only 30 seconds to defeat him. Then he turned towards Skipper. They circled each other ready to fight.

"Listen to me Rockgut. You aren't in your right mind. White Widow was captured years ago," Skipper pleaded. There was no use reasoning with him. He was already lost to the winding corridors of his own mind

"Enemy," Rockgut muttered, "enemy no. 2. Penguin known only as Skipper, last sighted 29 hours ago, neutralize with extreme prejudice." Rockgut must have picked up Carson's announcement. If the situation wasn't so dire he would be flattered by the fact that he was considered so powerful. Skipper threw a roundhouse kick at Rockgut, testing his opponent. Rockgut blocked this with ease and countered with a punch to the head, which Skipper dodged, also testing his opponent. It was clear, despite Rockgut's madness, that both opponents held each other in great esteem.

The fight began. Rockgut punched, but only as a feint to get Skipper's flipper in the open when he blocked. He grabbed the flipper twisting it around attempting to get it into a hold in which he could break it. Skipper realized this, and used his signature corkscrew move to untwist his arm and strike back at his opponent. However, Skipper knew Rockgut would dodge this, and halfway down changed it to a flying kick catching Rockgut in the chest. Rockgut rolled with the attack back-flipping out of Skipper's range. The insane penguin charged forward to elbow, or whatever the penguin equivalent, his opponent. At the last minute he changed to a spinning kick and two punches with an iron beak twist. This was an extremely difficult move to block and Skipper was forced to use his signature move to block and counter (the description of which is classified). This was bad for the younger penguin as he had played the only ace up his sleeve. Rockgut smiled. Skipper stiffened slightly.

"That's your weakness," Rockgut smiled, which in his current state, looked pretty creepy, "the emotions you pretend you don't have." Rockgut distracted with a with a punch to the face, then front flipped over Skipper, kicking him in the back of the head as he landed, knocking Skipper out cold. "I'm takin' you back to the slammer White Widow." Skipper shout him before blackness closed upon him.


	5. A Death in the Family

"Gah!" Kowalski sat bolt upright, slamming his head into the bunk above. He rubbed his head, wondering where he was. He looked around. He was in his old dormitory, in his old bunk bed, but when he looked down he saw one of the young cadets he had helped teach. Dead. His eyes staring past him at the ceiling, feathers matted with blood around various incisions on his body. Judging by the stab wounds, it looked like he had been brutally hacked to death with an axe. Kowalski looked around the room only to see the bodies of four other cadets, bearing uncanny resemblance to Private, Skipper, and Rico, also murdered with the same weapon. This was too much for Kowalski to take. Everyone dead, all but him. Why him? Why did he deserve to live? He tried to remember what had happened, but couldn't.

"Facts," Kowalski thought aloud. They always took away the pain. He analysed the crime scene, barely holding back tears. He conducted a rushed and poorly equipped autopsy on each penguin, but it kept him from breaking down. Subject 1, the penguin who bore uncanny resemblance to Private, was killed almost instantly when a blow from the axe severed his brain. All other wounds were post mortem. Subject 2, the penguin resembling Rico had put up more of a fight and had several pre mortem wounds on his back and right side before he was killed by a deep cut in the neck that severed the jugular. Skipper's look alike hadn't been so lucky. It was obvious that he suffered several blows from a hard, blunt object, that did not shatter on impact, nor leave splinters or other trace evidence. From this the Skipper-like cadet had suffered a collapsed lung and a fractured right wing before receiving quite a few deep wounds inflicted by the axe. From these he had bled to death, taking several minutes. Not far from the body was a series of bloody footprints leading from the area with the blood spatter to the place where he had fallen. A few meters away was a radio. He was obviously trying to grab the radio to warn someone before he passed out from loss of blood.

Normally, drowning himself in facts would numb the pain of the situation, that's how he'd coped with his guilt over the numerous people he'd had do kill as part of the 'mission', or the innocent civilians who he had told Skipper to sacrifice to prevent the slaughter of more. It was also how he'd coped with the death of his best friends, Manfridi and Johnson. Suddenly all the guilt he had swept under the rug over the years came crashing down on him. Tears slid down his beak. "Why?," he screamed, "who could do such a thing!" he heard footsteps. He hoped it was the killer come to finish him off. He didn't deserve to live.

"Hey. Brainy." Kowalski looked up. It was Chuffy.

"Chuffy?" Kowalski stared at the other penguins, "Aren't you...?"

"C'mon Brainy, you know that's tippy top secret."

"Who...who did this? Who could kill...children?"

"The sleeper agent."

"Skipper?" Kowalski asked, shocked.

"Nope, not Skipper, Brainy," Chuffnell replied, "but it's one of you. In fact..."

"Kowalski. Wake up." Skipper shook him awake. He and the rest of the team were all in cages. He looked around the room. It was barely furnished with only a bunk against the wall, a box in the middle of the room that served as a table, and a bucket full of fish. Rockgut turned around.

"Talk White Widow minions otherwise," He smiled crazily, "We have ways to make you talk that are less pleasant."

"Rockgut. It's me, Skipper!" The penguin pleaded.

"No more lies. Where is she!?"

"Why do you think I'm a White Widow agent?"

"Look at your feathers, they're white. Do you know who has fur that colour? THE WHITE WIDOW!"

"Look at yourself," replied Private, "you have white feathers too."

"How could I? The White Widow! I have to bring her to justice. How could I work for her? I'm a suspect! Talk Rockgut. I can bring a lot of pain if necessary." Rockgut began to interrogate himself.

"Not helping, Private," Kowalski criticized the younger penguin.

"Private, slap yourself." Skipper ordered. Private slapped himself. Skipper turned back to Rockgut. "STOP!" he shouted. Rockgut looked at him, freezing in the middle of an attempt to break his own wing, "Don't you remember me? Me, Cupcake? Remember from the academy? I was the kid who filled your sheets with whipped cream for my trial mission."

"So that's why Skipper can't go back to the academy" Kowalski mused. Skipper wasn't going to hear the end of that one.

Rockgut's brow furrowed. The name sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place it. "Dammit, Rockgut! Remember the secret? The one thing only you and I would know as you were the only person I told? I killed Manfridi and Johnson, 15 years ago in Denmark. Remember how I told you what had happened, but you told everyone else Blowhole killed them," the other penguins looked at him in horror, especially Kowalski who had loved the two commandos like brothers. "Denmark, Rockgut! Remember!" Rockgut peered at him.

"Cupcake?" he asked tentatively, "Cupcake!" Skipper sighed with relief. "Soldier, Why are you in a cage?"

"Special agent Sir!" Skipper stood to attention, motioning for the others to follow suit, "We were captured by Dr Blowhole, sir."

"At ease, men. Rico lock pick!" the senior penguin ordered. Rico tapped his beak against the bars, indicating that Rockgut should remove the ropes binding it beak. Rockgut paused as he started to untie Rico.

The radio had picked up another bulletin, "We have reports of another sighting of Skipper and team. I repeat to all teams who did not hear the previous announcement. They are a beta level threat. Neutralize with extreme prejudice" Suddenly Rockgut remembered why the penguins were in the cages.

"Listen, I'm sorry I lied to you, but it's not what it seems. We were set up. Just like in Denmark." Skipper panicked. The other penguin looked at him wearily, like a father who has just discovered his son has been staying awake all night playing video games instead of studying. Rockgut was beyond anger. He was just disappointed that his own star officer could lie to him. Suddenly Skipper felt guilty. Rockgut had been like a father to him.

"What happened?" the rock hopper asked.

Skipper and the other penguins got him up to speed on the events of the previous week. Rockgut looked Skipper in the eye. "I trust you Cupcake. It's farfetched, but then so was Denmark," he unlocked the cages, "I've learned from experience, trusting you always has its rewards." Suddenly, Rockgut lapsed back into his insanity. He rushed about the room, ranting about the White Widow as he randomly searched his own HQ. Suddenly he turned on the penguins, tackling Skipper and holding him down. As the other penguins rushed forward to remove him he jumped up kicking Rico in the face. He had gone farther into insanity than before. He was no longer fighting with any reason or style, simply lashing out like a wild animal. This gave the penguins a better chance against him than before. The fought, traveling down the ladder that led to the exit and out into the street. Finally, Rico managed to restrain Rockgut with some rope he had regurgitated. The famous commando thrashed and tried to bite the other penguins. Then, in a moment of clarity he stopped thrashing and looked up at Skipper. "End me," he whispered his voice hoarse from shouting, "let me keep what's left of my dignity," Skipper looked back at him in horror, "Please." a tear rolled down Rockgut's face. Then his brief moment of sanity began to fade.

Skipper understood what he needed to do. He took a deep breath. He faced Rockgut, turning his back on his team. Rico covered Private's eyes. Like a streak of lightning Skipper's flipper shot from his side hitting a pressure point just beneath his leader's beak. Rockgut stopped struggling. His body relaxed. Skipper closed his eyes. He picked up the older penguin, holding him in his arms like a child. He turned around. On his face was an expression the other penguins knew all too well. It was the same expression he wore when he stepped off the plane without Manfridi and Johnson, that was etched on his face as he watched is wife disintegrate before his eyes, that betrayed the emotions he normally hid as he sentenced his team to death. Skipper walked down the alley disappearing into the darkness. Private started to follow.

"No." Kowalski ordered, placing a flipper on his shoulder, "Let him say good bye."

Later that night Skipper walked back to his team. Kowalski looked at him questioningly, "I left him in the ally." Skipper replied choking back tears, instead converting them to anger, "I disposed of him, like any other body. Like he taught me to do."

"He was practically a father to you. How could..." Kowalski gasped.

"It's what he would have wanted. He always told me, no matter what, he mission goes on; no time for ceremony," The four penguins continued in silence, Skipper lost to his thoughts. Then he turned to his lieutenant, "He was a great man…once."


	6. The Sleeper Agent

Kowalski couldn't sleep. He was afraid he'd have another nightmare like the one in Rockgut's cage. He'd been having similar ones all week but that had been the worst. He got up and started to pace the room. Skipper's safe house was an empty hotel room, now being used as storage, in an expensive hotel. There were six beds, even more desks, lamps, other furniture, and a stash of spare weapons. For once Skipper's paranoia had paid off. "_We need a safe house in Boston, just in case we get chased there when the space squids attack_," Skipper had told them. At the time everyone but him had been trying not to laugh. Kowalski opened the French doors and walked out onto the balcony. The sound of footsteps made him turn. He looked back at the door.  
"Hey, Brainy."

Kowalski slapped himself. He was definitely awake. "You're just a hologram Chuffy. You're not real." He stuttered, thought this was more to convince himself.

"Well, I'm not a hologram, Brainy; but your right, I'm not real," Chuffy replied, "I'm a bit like one of those spirit guides Skipper claimed he had when he lost his memory. It's pretty obvious why your subconscious picked me, though. You practically worshiped me back at the academy."

20 years ago

_I stood on the observation deck during the older penguins' training session, just to watch Chuffy do his signature one wing wonder on the parallel bars. Technically I wasn't allowed to be on the observation deck during training, but the instructors turned a blind eye. They thought it was good for me to watch their star student. As Chuffy came down the bell rang and class finished for the day. I ran over to him. He was about six years older than me and two years older than Skipper. "That was better than ever Chuffy!" I beamed._

_ The older penguin took a mock bow, "Why thank you Colonel Carson. Now will you send me and my team out on a real mission?!" Chuffnell replied jokingly. The two penguins laughed. That was all Chuffy wanted to do: go on a real mission._

_That was when Skipper walked up, "What's the plan for the evening oh fearless leader." Skipper laughed. Kowalski wondered if those two ever did anything serious. The three of them were an unofficial team. Chuffy was the leader, with Skipper as his lieutenant, and Kowalski as their Private. _

_"Well, I was thinking we should complete that trial mission Rockgut gave us," Chuffy smirked, "I say we wipe that smug look off his face by playing a little prank on him." _

18 years ago

_Chuffnell had gone on his first mission, just like he'd always wanted. Where he had gone and what he was doing was top secret. So was the fact that he was dead. _

_Rockgut broke the news to Skipper. Skipper was told that it had to stay within the team, since Rockgut couldn't risk the enemy finding out that they had been infiltrated. It would compromise the entire operation, not to mention several other agents._

_ "No matter what, the mission must go on." the senior officer told the younger penguin. Skipper nodded, though he didn't really understand. His whole world turned upside down. He couldn't believe his leader was dead. There was no one on earth as full of life as Chuffy. Skipper climbed up into his bunk. How was he going to go on without a leader? Then he understood what Rockgut had meant. "No matter what, the mission must go on." He had to keep going, despite Chuffy's death. He would live his life by these words. He had to continue. It's what Chuffy would have wanted, but how would he tell Kowalski? The kid thought Chuffy was the bee's knee's. _

_I entered the dormitory. "Where's Chuffy, Skipper? I thought he was due back from his mission yesterday." I asked. _

_"I...I Don't know how to tell you this," Skipper looked down at his feet. He didn't have the heart to tell the kid, "Chuffnell has been transferred to another team. We probably won't see him again." _

"So, why do I need a spirit guide?" Kowalski asked the figment of his imagination.  
"Like I said, there's a sleeper agent on the team. You knew who it is, but that part of your memory was erased, probably by the sleeper agent."  
"Do you know anything else?"  
"Nope," The spirit guide looked behind him, "Gotta go. I have a few more sources to check." And, like that, he was gone. Kowalski knew what he had to do. He went over to the weapons stash. Grabbed a flamethrower and some rope then locked away the rest, taking the key with him.

Skipper awoke to find himself bound to one of the spare chairs. He looked around. His teammates were in a similar position. Rico's beak was tied shut so he couldn't regurgitate anything. Kowalski stood directly in front of him, the flamethrower pointed at his head.

"What is the meaning of this, soldier?!" Skipper exclaimed.

"There's a sleeper agent on this team. They set up the whole mutiny."

"I thought we discussed this. I'm no sleeper agent."

"Think about it, " Kowalski held his clipboard in his right flipper, resting the end of the flame thrower on the ground, "The person who infiltrated us knew all of our weaknesses. He knew Rico would do whatever his doll told him, that I would trust Chuffy, and that Private would do anything to settle down with Susan. Also, we're the only ones who knew about the hard light suits and would be able to steal it. I think the sleeper agent is you. All our actions can be accounted for at any time, except you, when you were in Denmark. None of us knows what really happened there because nobody but you made it back sane. For all we know, you were brainwashed, killed your teammates and returned like nothing had happened. However, there is still a possibility it's someone else, so I won't release Rico and Private until you tell us what happened in Denmark."

Skipper looked up at his lieutenant, his expression sad, though slightly weary, "You really want to know what happened in Denmark?"

**Sorry it took me so long to update. The ages and other dates and times are displayed in the equivalent time for humans, so if Kowalski was human, 20 years would have passed since he left the academy. I actually have no idea what the life span of a penguin is.**


	7. Welcome to Denmark

"Here's the mission men," Skipper briefed his team, "We have intel that a group called SNAH plans to assassinate Denmark's prime minister and open sandwich minister, then use the ensuing chaos to take over the government. Now, because none of you actually do your reading, SNAH is a radical group that believes that puffins are the superior bird, and thinks that gives them a free pass to take over the world. Our job's pretty obvious: we stop them. Any questions?" Manfridi raised a wing.

"What's SNAH got against the open sandwich minister?" Manfridi asked.

"Crazy puffins hold crazy grudges," Skipper replied, "Any other questions? Good let's move out, men. Everyone but Kowalski needs to be in Copenhagen by 0500 tomorrow." Kowalski sighed. He had been ordered to stay to complete his latest weapon. That was the bad part of being a scientist; you missed out on a lot of good missions.

Back then the team consisted of five penguins: Skipper, Manfridi, Johnson, Kowalski, and Rico. Manfridi was a tall, muscular penguin. He played the team clown but was actually one of the best operatives on the team. He was pretty much an all-rounder. His best friend Johnson was slightly shorter, and impossibly skinny with a sophisticated air and a Park Avenue accent. He claimed to be Julliard trained and was a master of disguise.

Manfridi and Johnson had been operating out of the Central Park Zoo for several years. They used to be part of a larger team stationed there, but their leader was promoted and the other three missing in action. Because of this a new leader and two other team members had to be added. Johnson was hoping to be promoted to leader and was quite surprised when Skipper, fresh out of the academy, was assigned the post. With him came Kowalski, a member of his old team at the academy, and Rico, a psychotic weapons specialist. At first Manfridi and Johnson resented being ordered about by their new leader, who was by far their junior in both experience and age, but soon discovered Skipper was actually the right penguin for the job.

The penguins parachuted from the plane, and into Denmark. After they had landed and regrouped they made their way to the nearest town. There they were to meet up with a puffin named Hans, from the local bird defence corps.  
When the penguins arrived at the house they knocked, whispering the sign: "Sardines are nice with tomato sauce."

Someone inside then whispered the countersign: "but anchovies are good on pizza." The door opened to reveal a puffin, roughly in his late twenties. "Come in, come in. You must be Skipper," welcomed the puffin in a Danish accent. "I am Hans."

"Hi," Skipper greeted as Hans shut the door, "this is Manfridi my all-rounder, Johnson my disguise expert, and Rico my weapons specialist."

"Nice to meet you all. We will start with the briefing then I'll show you to your rooms." Hans led them to a cosy living room various maps and plans scattered across the coffee table.

"Here's the plan. We know SNAH plans to assassinate the prime minister and the open sandwich minister separately," Skipper turned to the puffin, "Hans what's your intel?" Hans left his chair and stood in front of the team.

"My agents have discovered that the prime minister will be assassinated the next time the Folketinget, sorry that is our name of Parliament, meets. The open sandwich minister will be assassinated in his home. These are the plans for the Christiansburg Palace where Parliament will meet," the puffin held up a blueprint, "there are 23 possible sniper positions, and 106 places to put a bomb that would compromise the buildings structural integrity or the life of the prime minister. The house is guarded by eight humans, and 10 penguins. However it is still quite possible to sneak in. The good news is that both men are to be killed by the same assassin. The bad news is we have intel that says it will be their best agent."

"Thanks Hans," Hans sat down, "we're going to go at this as a team. We know they are going to attempt the prime minister first. If we can catch the assassin at the palace, the threat is neutralized. If not we follow him to the house and try to stop him there or get him on the way."

"If I may, Skipper," Hans raised his wing, "we are confident that the first attempt will be on the prime minister, but there is still a chance we were given false information. I suggest that we follow your plan but leave Rico at the house to upgrade the weapons systems, and guard the minister."

"Good idea Hans, but we will need Rico's expertise to disarm any explosives or other weapons."

"Dat is true, but I have had some advanced weapons training myself. I am not as good as Rico but I should be able to disable anything we should come across."

"OK, we'll use your plan. Now let's get some shut-eye. We move out tomorrow."

The next day they arrived in Copenhagen. They were going to stay as Hans' sister's house for the next six weeks to plan their mission. All Hans' sister, Oktavia, had security clearance to know, was that they were friends with Hans and on a mission. Unfortunately Oktavia had fallen madly in love with Manfridi. For the first week he tried to dissuade her:

"Oktavia, I'm about to go on a dangerous mission. I probably won't make it back; even if I do I have to return to America." He pleaded.  
"Den I vill l go vith you," she replied stubbornly. Her English wasn't as good as Hans'.

"No you won't. They don't allow girls at HQ. Please Oktavia." But Oktavia wouldn't give up, even with her brother's disapproval. Finally Manfridi had to give in.

All too soon the day came when the mission began. The team packed their equipment. Skipper already considered Hans part of the team; he trusted him with his life.

"Good bye Manfridi," Oktavia called as the team walked towards car they had recently 'commandeered'. The two embraced.

"'Told you I was no good for you," Manfridi whispered.

"C'mon y' Nancy cat." Skipper shouted chuckling slightly. Manfridi handed her a letter. "If I don't make it, send this to my folks."  
"I vill."  
"Well, I guess this is goodbye. I'm gonna miss you."  
"And me also." Manfridi got into the car. Oktavia waved long after they had disappeared into the night. She looked at the envelope. The address was blurred by tears. Too blurred to read.


	8. Mission: FAILED

They dropped Rico off at the open sandwich minister's house. It was 0300 when the other penguins arrived at the Christiansburg palace. They searched every inch of the place. They found some explosives attached to the roof. True to his claim, Hans disarmed them.

"That was just a contingency plan, men. Our target is too good to be this sloppy. Manfridi, I want you on the balcony surveying points alpha to hotel, your code name will be Nancy cat."

"Very funny, Skipper, very funny." Manfridi replied sarcastically.

"Johnson will cover points India to papa, and your code name will be tiger. I will take points Quebec to Zulu, and my code name will be lion. Hans will be on the roof standing by for any disarming you deem necessary. If you can do it yourself or it's not that important don't call Hans. He needs to be free in case of an emergency. His code name will be cheetah. Any questions? No? Good. Commence Operation: Save the politician."

Several hours had gone by without anything happening. Then the Prime Minister stood to speak. Manfridi broke the silence. "Lion, there's some suspicious movements in the shadows in the bravo area. Permission to investigate? Over." Manfridi whispered into his radio.

"Permission granted, over." Skipper replied. Manfridi edged, his back against the wall, towards the shadows until he came to a corner. There he stopped and carefully peered around the edge. The assassin, who was obviously a puffin, was dressed in black and wore a mask. He or she seemed to be setting up some kind of equipment.

"Lion, I have a visual on the assassin. He's setting up a tripod. Wait. He's taking something out of a case. Subject is assembling a sniper rifle! Permission to engage? Over."

"Do not engage, Nancy cat. I repeat, do not engage. Wait for reinforcements. Over" Skipper replied.

"Wait a minute. Now he's signalling to someone at point tango. Over."

"I'm sending Tiger as back up. I'm going to investigate point tango. Lion out." Skipper climbed down from his vantage point to point tango. There was no movement or anything to suggest the presence of a hostile. Skipper scouted the area cautiously. When he was certain the area and surrounding areas were empty he returned to his vantage point.

"Looks like it was a wild goose chase, Nancy cat. Over." Static.

"Lion, over here NOW! Hans is...need backup...over powered... rifle at Prime Minister..." Manfridi screamed over the radio. The message was barely audible and at times was lost to static, but he had heard enough to conclude that the assassin had over powered Manfridi and Johnson, and Hans was dead or, hopefully, only injured, and that the rifle was being pointed at the Prime Minister. Skipper grappled towards point bravo.

He swung into the balcony, rolling to dissipate the force of the landing. When he looked up he saw the last thing he ever imagined. Manfridi was aiming the rifle at the Prime Minister, Johnson assisting. The supposed assassin lay dead in the corner. Hans was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Stand down immediately!" Skipper ordered. Manfridi continued to adjust the weapon, saying nothing. Finally Johnson stepped forward, "Dammit, Manfridi. Listen Skipper..."

"Don't say anything, Johnson." Manfridi cut in. Johnson looked down at his feet, dropping his guard for a split second. That was all Skipper needed. He grabbed Johnson, taking the knife from his belt at the same time. He held the knife to the penguin's throat. Skipper knew that even if Manfridi was an enemy agent, he wouldn't let anything happen to Johnson.

"Listen to me Manfridi," Skipper choked back tears, "I will kill Johnson if you do not stand down. I am going to give you to the count of three." Manfridi turned around looking directly at Skipper. He it was obvious how much this hurt both penguins. He turned back to the gun. "One..." Skipper counted, still Manfridi did nothing, "Two... Three" Skipper loosened his grip on the knife. He couldn't do it. Manfridi dropped his wrench with a clang. The sound made Skipper jump. The knife slipped…

A warm, sticky liquid covered Skipper's flipper. Johnson slumped. Skipper released his grip on the dead penguin. Johnson's lifeless body dropped to the floor. Skipper stared at the knife as his teammate's blood dripped down the blade. He couldn't believe what he had just done. Manfridi let out a cry of pain and anger. He grabbed a gun from the dead assassin. He shot at the railing causing it to come lose. Hans, who had been leaning against it, fell down and landed directly in front of Manfridi. Manfridi pointed the weapon at Hans.

"You just forced Skipper to kill my best friend. I'd kill the person you care about most, but I bet someone like you doesn't care about anyone." Manfridi pulled the trigger. Click. Click. It was empty. Hans launched himself at Manfridi, marking the beginning of the fight, Skipper still staring at the knife.

"Snap out of it Skipper." Manfridi yelled as he punched Hans in the face. Skipper looked up at Manfridi, tears in his eyes. "Listen to me. The rifle over there is set to fire in roughly 30 seconds. It needs to be pointed away from the Prime Minister" Hans elbowed him in the stomach. "Skipper, whatever you do don't..." Hans head-butted him. Skipper grabbed the rifle, "Don't touch it Skipper." Manfridi yelled, but it was too late.

"Flipper print recognized," the computerized weapon announced. It swung around to face the Prime Minister and fired. Skipper stumbled backwards. The Prime Minister was dead.

Hans kicked Manfridi hard in the face. He landed beside Skipper, unconscious. "Why Hans?" Skipper questioned, glaring at the turncoat.

"My, my, Skipper. It's pretty obvious. Did you not read the acronym backwards? SNAH backwards spells HANS. I am the leader of SNAH. I was never one of you." The puffin replied mockingly.

"So all of it was a lie. On top of everything you've done, I'm going to have to tell Manfridi the girl he fell for was a spy."

"Leave my sister out of this! She is not involved." Hans glared at Skipper. Skipper looked at him quizzically. So the insane puffin did care about someone. Hans regained his composure adopting a triumphant smile "Oh and Skipper, look behind you." Skipper turned around. The door crashed open revealing a team of commandos from the Danish bird defence corps.

"Drop the weapon. Get on your knees, flippers on your head, you are surrounded," one of the penguins shouted.

"Help me! The penguin Skipper and his friend are assassins. I couldn't stop him...He killed the prime minister" Hans lied. Skipper looked around, he was surrounded. Then he saw Manfridi. Skipper could easily escape, but not carrying the unconscious penguin. He wasn't going to leave a man behind. Skipper dropped the knife and knelt, placing his flippers on his head. "I surrender."


	9. The Meaning of Defeat

"So, I'm guessing I owe you an explanation for all the strange behaviour, right?" Manfridi asked his cell mate, Skipper. It was the first time he had spoken in days. Both penguins had taken Johnson's death pretty hard.

"Yes, it would clear things up, but only if you feel up to it," Skipper replied.

"I think it will do me some good to talk about it."

_Manfridi was still concealed by the corner when Johnson joined him. "We engage on three, Delta formation. Target: disable the weapons, capture assassin. One, two, three!" Manfridi ordered, both penguins charging the assassin on the count of three. The penguins were about to tackle the puffin, when he or she collapsed in front of them, dead. Behind the dead puffin was Hans, wing still raised from throwing his knife at the assassin._

_"We were supposed to take the assassin alive if at all possible," Johnson criticized, "Also, I believe Skipper ordered you to remain on the roof."_

_"I think you have misunderstood my alliances." Replied the puffin, pulling a gun on the two penguins._

_"Look, Hans, I don't know much about Danish humour, but I'm pretty sure that's not funny anywhere." Manfridi replied._

_"I am not joking." Hans answered coolly, "I am quite serious. Skipper has been distracted for the moment so I will explain this quickly. You are going to point the rifle at the prime minister. It will go off automatically in 15 minutes or if you remove your flippers from the weapon for more than two minutes. It has been modified to recognize your flipper print. If you refuse, I will shoot Johnson. Johnson will stand next to you. If Johnson escapes I will shoot you. If either of you says anything to Skipper, I will shoot all three of you."_

_Manfridi made a dive for the radio lying only a few feet away, pulling Johnson with him. Manfridi knew Hans would probably be reluctant to fire a shot as the noise would alert the room to their presence. "Lion, over here NOW! Hans is an agent of SNAH. I need backup. He's overpowered us and the assassin. He's going to make me shoot the Prime Minister!" Hans threw another knife, slicing the already damaged radio clean in half._

_"I wouldn't try anything like that again," Hans informed his prisoners. Something in his eyes told Manfridi he was serious. He and Johnson went over to the firearm and did as they were instructed. Hans climbed onto the balcony above where he had a clear shot at Johnson but remained concealed._

_Only a few seconds had passed when Skipper landed on the balcony._  
_"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Stand down immediately." Skipper shouted at them. Manfridi continued to tinker with the weapon hoping Hans wouldn't attack Skipper._

_Johnson couldn't take it anymore, "Dammit, Manfridi. Listen Skipper..."_  
_"Don't say anything, Johnson." Manfridi could see Hans warning him to prevent any more outbursts. He wanted to tell Skipper what was going on as much as Johnson, but he couldn't risk the life of his best friend._

_Skipper grabbed Johnson putting a knife to his throat. However, Johnson was still in range of Hans. "Listen to me Manfridi," Manfridi could see this hurt Skipper as much as it hurt him, "I will kill Johnson if you do not stand down. I am going to give you to the count of three." One...Manfridi considered tackling Skipper and Johnson, but that could cause Skipper's wing to slip and accidentally kill Manfridi. He also considered placing himself between Hans and Johnson, but Hans would probably see this coming and shoot all of them...two... Skipper might be bluffing, but what if he wasn't? If he didn't tell Skipper what was going on, Skipper might actually kill Johnson. However, if Hans saw him try to communicate anything, he would definitely shoot all of them. He decided to take his chances on Skipper...three. Never before had a single number been so terrifying. The shock caused him to drop his wrench. This made Skipper jump, and the knife slipped._

_"JOHNSON!" Manfridi felt terrible. He had gambled with his friend's life, and in the end it was his own flipper that caused Skipper to kill his best friend. Guilt hit the penguin like a tidal wave. It was then he realized it was Hans' fault. Hans was still standing there. Smirking. "What do I have to lose," Manfridi muttered, his lust for revenge blurred his thoughts. He grabbed a hand gun from the dead assassin and shot at the balcony, half hoping Hans would shoot back and end him, but only after he had killed Hans first. Hans landed directly in front of him._

_"You just forced Skipper to kill my best friend! I'd kill the person you care about most, but I bet someone like you doesn't care about anyone." Manfridi spat. He fired the gun. In his anger he had forgotten to count the number of rounds he had left. Click. Empty. Hans charged at him, a sadistic smile on his face._

_Manfridi was a good fighter, but Hans was better. Still, Manfridi was able to keep him busy for a couple of minutes. That was when it occurred to him. It was too easy. For some reason Hans had something against Skipper. The gun could recognize flipper prints… That was it! Hans was trying to get Skipper angry enough that he wouldn't check the gun. "Whatever you do don't..." Hans head-butted him, his vision already swimming, "Don't touch it Skipper!"_

"You know the rest," Manfridi finished.

"So we were set up." Skipper replied, staring at his feet, "I should have seen it coming."

"I just can't believe Johnson is gone. He was one of those people you think was gonna live forever."

"Like Chuffy," Skipper muttered remembering his old leader.

"I mean...we all knew when we joined, we probably wouldn't make it out. I just always thought it would be me, not Johnson." Manfridi fell silent.

Finally, Skipper broke the silence, "We need to get out, clear our names. It's what Johnson would have wanted."

"How?"

"Well this is more of Kowalski's thing, but I've got some options."

* * *

Rico had been watching the open sandwich minister for several hours. The others weren't coming. He was on his own. He started to activate the various traps and other weapons systems. Then he heard a familiar voice shout, "Rico, it's me, Hans." Rico switched off the traps, so Hans could enter.

"What happened to Skipper?" Rico asked. Hans knelt down, as if to pick something up from the floor. "Are you OK." Rico questioned. Hans picked up a pipe Rico had left on the floor next to the trap. "What the hell...!"

When Rico woke up he was strapped to steel table, like the ones stereotypical mad doctors use. "You are sure the pen-gu-in has suffered no damage. I need his memory intact."

"Blowhole," thought the trapped penguin.

"Yes, quite certain. Though why you insisted on this one I do not know." Hans replied. That was all it took for Rico to conclude that Hans was a traitor.

"Me and Rico, we have… a history." Rico grimaced. He knew all too well what Blowhole was talking about. Blowhole turned around. "Hello, Rico," Blowhole smiled at him, in the same way a crocodile smiles before it devours its prey, "It's time to finish those experiments I started."

The guard came in to take them to interrogation, again. Skipper had repeated their story every time, but nobody believed him. The guard, cuffed their flippers behind their backs, then opened the doors of the cell. Skipper and Manfridi staggered as if they could barely stand. They had been put through various classified torture methods and were thought to be on the verge of breaking. The interrogator had been surprised that one of the penguin's most promising teams were already in such bad shape. They had gone only a few meters down the hallway when Manfridi collapsed in a faint. The guard bent down to drag the unconscious penguin, when Skipper kicked him in the back of the head. Then Skipper took the guards keys and unlocked he and Manfridi's handcuffs. Manfridi stood up.

"I can't believe they fell for that," noted Manfridi.

"They've got CCTV. We have fifteen seconds before they're on to us. Stage two." Skipper interrupted

Fifty guards charged into the hallway, in full riot gear. This was the section of the secure facility where the most dangerous prisoners were kept. They looked around. The penguins were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the door behind them shut, locking them in. Manfridi and Skipper high fived each other. Then they climbed into the nearby ventilation shaft.

The two penguins looked down. It was about a thirty foot drop to the ground. Skipper removed a rope with a sharped plastic fork tied to the end. Skipper and Manfridi had cut the cloth off their mattresses with the plastic fork they'd stolen from the canteen. They then covered the mattresses with their blankets so nobody noticed. They had tied the strips of fabric together to make a rope long enough that they would be able to jump to the ground from the end. Skipper removed two of the screws that held the various panels that made up the air vent together. He wedged the fork into this gap and let the rope trail down the side of the building. It was risky, but what did they have to lose?

Skipper climbed down first. The rope managed to hold to together. Manfridi followed after Skipper had reached the bottom. Sirens wailed and search lights swept the ground. Skipper saw a patrol car drive by. He and Manfridi jumped under it and held on to the bottom. When the vehicle left the gates the two penguins dove into the bushes. Skipper decided to head for the SNAH base. Unknown to Hans, the penguins had known of its whereabouts for years, but hadn't attacked as they wanted to discover the identity of the leader and build a case against him.

The two penguins stood at the gates of the Copenhagen Zoo. "Do you know exactly where in the zoo SNAH is based?" Manfridi asked.

"No." Skipper replied, "I was planning on finding a map and starting a grid search."

"We don't have time for that. We didn't exactly cover our tracks. We didn't have time for that either. I suggest we split up."

"Don't you remember the penguin credo? Never swim alone."

"These are special circumstances." Manfridi replied as he walked away from Skipper, "You take left, I'll take right."

Half an hour had passed, and Skipper had found nothing. Skipper was beginning to consider going back to the entrance and waiting for Manfridi, when he came across a group of bricks that weren't the same colour as the rest. He felt about the edges until he heard a click. The panel opened onto a dark stairway. There was a single guard a few steps down. Luckily, the guard was listening to some music and not paying attention. Skipper snuck up behind him. Put a flipper over his beak and hit him across the neck, killing instantly. He didn't need to kill the guard, but felt that someone evil enough to support Hans deserved to die. It never occurred to him the bird might have simply been too naive to know what he was getting into.

Skipper continued down the stairs. They ended at a balcony. Immediately, he stepped back into the shadows and listened. "So, you found the Pen-gu-in snooping around outside the missile silo?" Blowhole asked.

"Yes, just outside the giraffe exhibit. I don't know where Skipper is though."

"We will soon get that information out of him." Skipper heard a crackling sound, then a cry of pain. It belonged to Manfridi. He was about to jump down when he heard a computerized voice announce "Missile activated. Target: New York. T minus 2 minutes to launch."

"Finally those humans will pay for what they made me do. With the adjustments I made to those nuclear missiles it should flatten the whole tri state area." Blowhole announced triumphantly, followed by maniacal laughter. By now Skipper, out of horror and curiosity, was leaning over the edge of the balcony.

Suddenly a spotlight was shone in his eyes. "Damn." Skipper had let his own curiosity get the better of him. "Get him red ones," the evil dolphin called to his men. Skipper jumped over the edge of the railing, just in time to escape the sharp pincers of Dr Blowhole's lobster army. He rolled, landing directly in front of Blowhole. Behind him, Manfridi was trying to break his restraints. He had managed to get one flipper free. Several of the lobsters surrounding Blowhole, charged towards Skipper. The other half went to restrain Manfridi.

"T minus 1 minute and 30 seconds." The giraffe habitat was on the other side of the zoo. It was now or never. He looked back at Manfridi. It was obvious he wouldn't survive against that many lobsters, with all but one flipper secured to the table. It was Manfridi or the tri state area. If he saved Manfridi, millions of innocent people would die. If he stopped the missile, his best friend would die. He and Manfridi never expected to make it to retirement. They had signed up for this sort of thing, the millions of innocents hadn't. Skipper ran towards the exit. He desperately wanted to save his friend, but Manfridi would want him to stop the missile.

Skipper ran like he had never run before. If he was fast enough, he hoped he would make it back in time to rescue Manfridi. He arrived at the giraffe enclosure, and began to search for another area of discoloured bricks. When he found it, he felt for the hidden button and pressed it. The door opened into a room with a large computer, that took up half the room. The countdown flashed across the screen. Fifteen seconds left. Luckily the abort button was easy to find. However, when he pressed it, it asked for a password. "Think, Skipper, think." Skipper tried to imagine what Blowhole would use as a password. Ten seconds remained. Skipper typed in ring of fire. "Password...Denied." Skipper banged his fist on the keyboard. Blowhole always set his password as ring of fire. "What if Hans set the password?" he thought. This was, after all, it was Hans' base. What would Hans set as his password? Three seconds remained. Skipper typed in Oktavia. "Password...," the pause seemed to last forever, "Accepted. Launch: Aborted. Self-destruct sequence initiated in 3...2..." Kaboom.

Skipper had made it out just in time. Skipper looked at the smoking ruins surrounding him, all that was left of the main hideout was a cloud of smoke. Even if Manfridi had survived the lobsters, there was no way he could have made it out of that.

"Hands on your head. We have you surrounded." Skipper turned around. It was Major Mason, and twenty other bird defence corps. "Didn't you think your escape was a bit too easy?" asked the senior officer sarcastically.


	10. The Ethics of Espionage

Rico had been watching the culture minister for several hours. The others weren't coming. He was on his own. He started to activate the various traps and other weapons systems. Then he heard a familiar voice shout, "Rico, its me, Hans." Rico switched off the trap so Hans could enter.

"What happened to Skipper?" asked Rico. Hans knelt down, as if to pick something up from the floor. "Are you OK." Rico questioned. Hans picked up a pipe Rico had left on the floor next to the trap. "What the hell!..."

When Rico woke up he was strapped to steel table, like the ones stereotypical mad doctors use. "You are sure the pen-gu-in has suffered no damage. I need his memory in tact."

"Blowhole," thought the trapped penguin. "Yes, quite certain. Though why you insisted on this one I do not know." Hans replied. That was all it took for Rico to conclude that Hans was a traitor. "Me and Rico... we have a history." Rico grimaced. He knew all too well what Blowhole was talking about. Blowhole turned around. "Hello, Rico," Blowhole smiled at him, in the same way a crocodile smiles before it devours its prey, "Its time to finish those experiments I started."

The guard came in to take them to interrogation, again. Skipper had repeated their story every time, but nobody believed him. The guard, cuffed their flippers behind their backs, then opened the doors of the cell. Skipper and Manfridi staggered as if they could barely stand. They had been put threw various classified torture methods and were thought to be on the verge of breaking. The interrogator had been surprised that one of the penguin's most promising teams were already in such bad shape. They had gone a few meters down the hallway when Manfridi collapsed in a faint. The guard bent down to drag the unconcious penguin, when Skipper kicked him in the back of the head. Then Skipper took the guards keys and unlocked he and Manfridi's handcuffs. Manfridi stood up.

"I cant believe they fell for that," noted Manfridi.

"they've got CCTV. We have fifteen seconds before they're on to us. Stage two." Skipper interupted

Fifty guards charged into the hallway, in full riot gear. This was the section of the secure facility where the most dangerous spies were kept. They looked around. The penguins were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the door behind them shut, locking them in. Manfridi and Johnson high fived eachother. Then they climbed into the nearby ventilation shaft.

The two penguins looked down. It was about a thirty foot drop to the ground. Skipper removed a rope with a sharped plastic fork tied to the end. Skipper and Manfridi had cut the cloth off their mattresses with the plastic fork. They then covered the mattreses with their blankets so nobody noticed. They had tied the strips of fabric together to make a rope long enough that they would be able to jump to the ground from the end. Skipper removed two of the screws that held the various panels that made up the air vent together. He wedged the fork into this gap and let the rope trail down the side of the building. It was risky, but what did they have to lose? Skipper climbed down first. The rope managed to hold to together. Manfridi followed after Skipper had reached the bottom. Sirens wailed and search lights swept the ground. Skipper saw a patrol car drive by. He and Manfridi jumped under it and held on to the bottom. When the vehicle left the gates the two penguins dove into the bushes. Skipper decided to head for the SNAH base. Unknown to Hans, the penguins had known of its whereabouts for years, but hadn't attacked as they wanted to discover the identity of the leader and build a case against him. SNAH was based in the Copenhagen zoo.

The two penguins stood at the gates of the zoo. "Do you know exactly where in the zoo SNAH is based?" Manfridi asked.

"No." Replied Skipper, "I was planning on finding a map and starting a grid search."

"We don't have time for that. We didn't exactly cover our tracks. We didn't have time for that either. I suggest we split up."

"Don't you remember the penguin credo? Never swim alone."

"These are special circumstances." Manfridi replied as he walked away from Skipper, "You take left, I'll take right."

Half an hour had passed. Finally Skipper found a group of bricks that weren't the same color as the rest. He felt about the edges until he heard a click. The panel opened onto a dark stairway. There was a single guard a few steps down. Luckily, the guard was listening to some music and not paying attention. Skipper snuck up behind him. Put a flipper over his beak and karate chopped him on the neck, killing him instantly. He didn't need to kill the guard, but felt that someone evil enough to support Hans deserved to die. It never occurred to him the bird might have simply been too naive to know what he was getting into.

Skipper continued down the stairs. They ended on a balcony. He stepped back into the shadows and listened. "So, you found the Pen-gu-in snooping around outside the missile silo?" Blowhole asked

"Yes, just outside the giraffe exhibit. I don't know where Skipper is though."

"We will soon get that information out of him." Skipper heard a crackling sound, then a cry of pain. It belonged to Manfridi. He was about to jump down when he heard a a computerized voice announce "Missile activated. Target: New York. T minus 2 minutes to launch."

"Finally those humans will pay for what they made me do. With the adjustments I made to those nuclear missiles it should flatten the whole tri state area." Blowhole announced triumphantly, followed by maniacal laughter. By now Skipper, out of horror and curiosity, was leaning over the edge of the balcony. Suddenly a spotlight was shone in his eyes. "Damn." Skipper had let his own curiosity get the better of him. "Get him red ones," the evil dolphin called to his men. Skipper jumped over the edge of the railing, just in time to escape the sharp pincers of Dr Blowhole's lobster army. He rolled, landing directly in front of Blowhole. Behind him, Manfridi was trying to break his restraints. He had managed to get one flipper free. Several of the lobsters surrounding Blowhole, charged towards Skipper. The other half went to restrain Manfridi.

"T minus 1 minute and 30 seconds." The giraffe habitat was on the other side of the zoo. It was now or never. He looked over at Manfridi. It was obvious he wouldn't survive against that many lobsters, with all but one flipper secured to the railing. It was Manfridi or the tri state area. If he saved Manfridi, millions of innocent people would die. If he stopped the missile, his best friend would die. He and Manfridi never expected to make it to retirement. They had signed up for this sort of thing. Skipper ran towards the exit. He desperately wanted to save his friend, but Manfridi would want him to stop the missile.

Skipper ran like he had never ran before. If he was fast enough, he hoped he would make it back in time to rescue Manfridi. He got to the giraffe enclosure. He searched for another area of discolored bricks. When he found it, he felt for the hidden buttonand pressed it. The door opened into a room with a large computer, that took up half the room. The countdown flashed across the screen. Fifteen seconds left. Luckily the abort button was easy to find. However, when he pressed it, it asked for a password. "Think, Skipper, think." Skipper tried to imagine what Blowhole would use as a password. Ten seconds remained. Skipper typed in ring of fire. "Password...Denied." Skipper banged his fist on the keyboard. Blowhole always set his password as ring of fire. "What if Hans set the password?" thought Skipper. This was, after all, it was Hans' base. What would Hans set as his password? Three seconds remained. Skipper typed in Oktavia. "Password...," the pause seemed to last forever, "Accepted. Launch: Aborted. Self destruct sequence initiated in 3...2..." Kaboom. Thankfully, Skipper had made it out. Unfortunatly, all that was left of the main hideout was a cloud of smoke. Even if Manfridi had survived the lobsters, there was no way he could make it out of that.

"Hands on your head. We have you surrounded." Skipper turned around. It was was Major Mason. "Didn't you think your escape was a bit too easy?" asked the senior officer.


	11. Childhood Memories

"You don't exactly have the best childhood memories, do you pen-gu-in?" Blowhole smirked, hinting at his plan of attack. "I'm over it." replied Rico indifferently.

"Nice try Rico, but I know too much about you to believe that. Tell me. What is your earliest memory?" Rico said nothing. "Very well, you can test my new invention the..." Blowhole hit a button on his segway, "MIND COPYER." the cave filled with maniacal laughter. "I don't think that needs any introduction. I was trying to make a machine that would simply steal memories, but I could only get it to copy." Blowhole informed his prisoner as he attached various weirs to Rico's head.

Blowhole pressed a button, and a giant TV screen rose from the floor. On the screen appeared one of those corney opening slides you see at the beginning of a montage of footage from a family beach holiday. "Rico's first memories," appeared on the screen. Then the title dissolved. The movie started to play. The film was blurred, but it showed a family of penguins. That included Rico's parents, older sister, roughly eight, his brother, roughly eleven. They were living in a comfortable habitat in the Hoboken zoo. His mother was making dinner, and his father was working on some kind of project. Rico's older sister was practicing for the school ballet recital, and his brother was playing some kind of video game. It looked like a happy family.

"But it wasn't was it," narrated Blowhole, "you were too young to understand that you father worked as a banker for the zoo protection racket. He found clever ways to hide the money in various investments so it couldn't be traced back to Hoboken. The happy family home you knew was all built on ill gotten gains." Rico tried his best to look indifferent, but Blowhole was working his way into some of his most painful memories. "Let's skip ahead a few years," Blowhole pressed a button and Rico's head began to throb as the memories were pried from his mind at a dangerously high speed. "If I remember correctly," continued Blowhole, "Your father was embezzling..."

"He turned state's evidence," Rico growled. When he was older he had used the forensic and interrogation techniques he had learned at the academy to find out what happened. "Ah yes, your father felt guilty about what he had been doing. He told the penguin courts what was going on. He was promised anonymity until he was needed to testify, when he and his family would be placed in witness protection. But there was a leak. Word made it out to the boss that your father was a snitch."

The TV showed a similar family scene. This time Rico was six, his brothers and sisters 13 and 16. his father paced the floor nervously while his mother's eyes continuously darted back to her children. Suddenly the door was kicked open and the Thomson triplets walked in. The Thompson triplets were the zoo's enforcers. Three otter triplets. "We heard you been squeeln' on us." one of the triplets informed his father. "Please, I never talked to anyone, you me and Hammond go way back. Our father's go way back. You know I wouldn't do a thing like that." Rico's father pleaded, but his cries fell on deaf ears. The otters all pulled out sharp bamboo spears. "We don't appreciate snitches in our zoo." the three otters started to advance. "Fine. Do whatever you want to me, just leave my family out of it." his father continued to beg. Rico dove behind a stack of books. "this business is a family business, we do things as a family. You make a mistake, they all pay." the otters had backed Rico's family into a corner. Rico could see everything as his family was stabbed to death.

"No!" Screamed Rico, reliving his most painful memory in full color and surround sound. It seemed so real. "Thats better," Blowhole mocked.

The otters turned around. "Hey, jimmy, wasn't there a little guy round here?"

"Yeah, johnny, do we have to kill a kid? I mean, he's only five."

"You getting' soft on us Jimmy?" Asked the tallest otter, Timmy, "The kid's old enough to identify us."

The otters started to search the room. The blood of Rico's entire family dripping from their spears. Rico panicked and the stack of books he had hidden behind collapsed. The otters closed in on him, backing him into a corner, just like they had done to his family. They wanted to see the fear on his face as the life drained from him. As suddenly as the triplets had entered another figure crashed through the door, tackling the biggest otter. The figure looked at him. It was Barney, one of the local delinquents trying to get in with the mob, but he was using moves like some kind of kung fu master. Already his first opponent was out cold on the floor. "Run Rico, get out of the zoo," Barney shouted at him, "I'll catch up, my covers blown anyway. Rico ran out of the habitat, and out of the zoo. He was half way down the street when the other penguin caught up with him. "Follow me," Barney ordered him. He ran over to a man hole and climbed down. Instead of the sewer, Rico was expecting, there was room with a gigantic, high tech computer, and just about every gadget and wepon under the sun. He set Rico down in the chair in front of the computer, and gave him a blanket.

It took a few days for Rico to regain the power of speech. "H...h...how, Barney?"

"Sorry about the deception, Rico, but my name isn't Barney. You can call me Chuffy. I'm from the penguin corps. Been working under cover here for a couple of months." Chuffy looked down at his feet, he felt guilty that he had arrived too late to save Rico's family. Chuffy looked back at Rico, trying to keep cheerful for the younger penguin's sake. "Don't worry," Chuffy told Rico. Rico fought back tears. That was the last thing his father had said to him before he died.

"Stop, please." Begged Rico, but Blowhole was having too much fun. "Stop? This is only the beginning. So many other nasty things happened to poor little Rico. Why don't we see what happens to your new best friend?"

"No. I'll tell you whatever you want. Just...no more."

"I don't want anything from you. I just want to find out how much you can take before you snap."

Rico and Chuffy had been on the run for several weeks. Chuffy was going to take him to the academy, where he would be safe. However, it seemed like wherever they went, the henchmen followed. They only had one day left to travel. Chuffy and his young companion were staying in an old farmhouse by the side of the road. Chuffy was almost out of ammunition and Rico was tired. Chuffy had tried to call a helicopter from base several times, but each time the signal seemed to be jammed. The older penguin was taking stock of what they left when Rico spotted a car driving down the road. "Chuffy...its them." Chuffy lept into action. He loaded his last clip into the revolver and started packing a knapsack. One Knapsack. Rico's knapsack. "What about you?" asked Rico. Already he could hear banging against the door on the lower level. "I'm going to give you a head start," Chuffy replied handing Rico the knapsack. Rico backed away. He wasn't going to lose anyone else. Chuffy noticed this. "Don't worry. It'll be just like before. Keep running till you get to the academy. I'll catch up." Chuffy tied a rope to one of the support beams and tossed the other end out the window. Chuffy had been giving Rico some basic training on the way so Rico knew how to abseil down. When he reached the bottom another object was thrown from the building. It was the revolver. That was the moment when Rico knew Chuffy wasn't going to catch up.


	12. Rockgut's Response

My last couple of chapters have been a bit too dark and away from the mystery. After this chapter i'm going to do one more on Denmark. After that, I promise there will be some major developments in the mystery.

Rico closed his eyes, but then his imagination took over, describing the scene more vividly than any screen. He could still hear the sounds. Rico opened his eyes. He couldn't take much more of this. "so what happened when you got to the academy. If I remember, you ran away after three years. You didn't know a good thing when you were living it. What would Chuffy say? He gave his life to get you to safety and you just walked right on out." Blowhole continued.  
"I had to avenge them. I had learned what I needed to know."  
"Well you obviously hadn't, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten my hands on you and your little girlfriend."

Rico was 12. He had been living on the streets for four years. He wasn't alone. He had formed an allience with a girl, her name was Rose, he had met about a year ago. To be specific, he saved her from being arrested. There were uses for his commando skills. Their relationship had progressed from a reluctant allience to a close friendship. Today, it was Rose's turn to steal something to eat. She had just rounded the corner and Rico watched her walk towards him. Suddenly a van drove up beside her and eight lobsters jumped out, trying to force her into the van. Rico charged towards them, intent on preventing her capture. However, in his anger he had neglected to scout the area. He had fought off the eight lobsters successfully. "Behind you!" Rose shouted. But it was too late. The lobster behind him sprayed something in front of his beak. For a few seconds he was dizzy, he tried to swing a punch at one of the lobsters, but collapsed on the ground.

When he woke up he was in some kind of laboratory. In a cage. Rico examined the lock. It would be easy to pick if he had something to pick it with. In the cage next to him was Rose. She was still asleep.  
"It would seem one of the pen-gu-ins is awake." Rico spun around to face the source of the voice. Behind him was a dolphin. The dolphin rode on some kind of segway. The dolphin reached into the cage, grabbing the squirming penguin and driving him over to a table similar to the one Rico was currently pinned to. The dolphin picked up a scalpel. Rico could tell by the look on his face he wasn't going to get any anesthetic.

"I'm disappointed that the changes I made were actually only beneficial to you, but I was quite pleased with the results I got from Rose, or what was her nickname? Miss Perky?"  
"Leave her out of it." Rico shouted, even though he knew Blowhole wouldn't listen.

It had been two years since he had been captured. Rose was getting worse. He was starting to lose hope until he discovered that, due to some of the side effects of Dr Blowhole's experiments, he was able to carry objects in his stomach and regurgitate them at will. This gave him an idea. The next day he was taken into the laboratory. Thankfully it was only to monitor his progress. As soon as Blowhole turned his back Rico swallowed as many sharp instruments as he could before Blowhole turned around.

When he was returned to his cage, Rose wasn't there. Rico was worried. He regurgitated a small length of wire he had found and bent it into a lock pick. He unlocked his cage and regurgitated the largest knife he had. Rico was standing on top of a human sized table. Below him were two guards. Rico looked at the knife. He had never taken a life before. He wasn't sure if he could do it. Then he remembered Rosie. She wouldn't last much longer. Suddenly his future actions didn't quite seem so immoral. Even so, it was hard to keep the contents of his stomach down. Rico walked down the hallway into the lab. He peered over the edge of the table only to see the last thing he expected: Skipper and Kowalski had gotten to Blowhole first. Rico charged forward, determined to end Blowhole himself. He landed on Blowhole's head and embedded his knife into the dolphin's eye. It was a small knife so it only took out the eye and didn't reach the brain. Blowhole thrashed about, throwing Rico, still clutching the knife, across the room. He skidded to the edge of the balcony. He stood up. He was surrounded by an army of lobsters on their way to fight Blowhole. Rico snapped into a fighting stance.

"So you were the leader of SNAH all along." Carson glared down at his prisoner.  
"No."  
"No? We followed you to the base, watched you hit the self destruct button and attempt to launch a nuclear missile. Tell me what part of that isn't incriminating." Major Carson hit Skipper in the beak. Skipper spat blood. "Dammit Major, I was trying to stop the rocket, the self destruct sequence was automatic. Do you really think I wanted to blow up Manfridi?" Special agent Rockgut stood in the corner hidden by the shadows. That one sentence got him listening.  
"you'd already stabbed Johnson. You wanted to finish the job."  
"The knife slipped. Even Manfridi agreed with me on that. Now tell me, wheres Hans? Wheres Rico? I keep telling you search for Rico. He could be in danger..."  
"Shut up." Carson slapped Skipper so hard the chair fell over, "I'm giving you one last chance before I bring back the needles."  
"No! I'm telling the truth."  
"Bring the needles."  
"Fine I did it. Just kill me already"  
Rockgut stepped out of the shadows, "I'll take over."  
"He's about to talk."  
"You used illegal methods to torture him to the point at which he'd say anything. Let me take over." Rockgut replied, a dangerous glint in his eye. Major Carson left the room reluctantly.

Rockgut turned the light away from Skipper's face and started to un cuff Skipper's wings. "Good cop, bad cop? Thats the oldest trick in the book" Asked the exhausted penguin. "I believe you," Replied Rockgut, "I don't know why, but something tells me your telling the truth. Skipper stood up, unsteadily, and followed the superior officer out of the room at as fast a pace as he could manage. "I think there may be some evidence on the security tapes from the palace that Carson overlooked in his haste to convict you. It's going to take time to process them, time you aren't going to have if Carson keeps going at you like that. I'm getting you out of the country."

Skipper was seated in Rockgut's car, Rockgut next to him. The driver, an ex soldier, had done his best to clean Skipper's wounds. They had been driving for some time. "Where are we going?" asked Skipper. "I've got a friend in the airport at Copenhagen who can get you on a plane, no questions asked. However, I thought it best for you to inform Manfridi's widow of his passing."  
"Manfridi was married?"  
"Oktavia. He married her just befor he left on the mission. I would suggest that you slightly edit the truth. I've done the same with my superiors. As far as they're concerned, Blowhole killed Manfridi and Hans killed Johnson, which is close to the truth. Also she may know where Hans is"

They arrived at the house. It was raining. Skipper walked up to the door and rang the bell. Oktavia answered. "Manfridi?" She asked hopefully. However, when the light from the house illuminated her caller her shoulder's slumped. It was obvious she hadn't slept in several days. "Mrs Manfridi, I have some rather painful news." She looked Skipper in the eye. "yes," she replied tentatively. Skipper wasn't sure how to proceed. "I'm sorry but... Manfridi didn't make it." Skipper comforted her as she started to cry. Skipper stayed with her until she fell asleep on the sofa. She had given him the letter Manfridi had given her. Skipper promised to get it to Manfridi's family. He knew where they lived. Skipper returned to the car. The look on Rockgut's face told him that he knew exactly how Skipper felt. "The mission goes on, son. The mission goes on.


	13. Relatively Few Penguins Are Left Behind

"What about Rico?" asked Skipper, as he drove towards the airport.

"Judging by the Intel I've dug up, Blowhole has him. Probably wants to finish his experiments. Your in absolutely no condition to go after him." Rockgut replied.

"No penguin gets left behind."

"When you get to my age, you realize that a better rule to follow is: relatively few penguins get left behind."

"I will go, regardless of what you say. Where's Blowhole?"

Skipper stood at the entrance of an abandoned building. Rockgut had given him all the equipment he had in his car. This included a radio, grappling gun, smoke pellets, a flashlight, and two knives. He switched on his flashlight and entered the building. He knew from previous encounters that Blowhole usually had his base underground, so Skipper checked the floor, fireplaces, and air vents. Finally he found what he was looking for. Skipper had found a group of floor boards that looked brand new, but the building had obviously been deserted for at least ten years. There were also marks on the edges of the boards that could have been made by lobster claws. Skipper used his knife to leaver the discolored boards out of the rest of the floor. Skipper shone his flashlight into the room below. It was definitely modern, and free of dust. One of the walls contained the entrance to a freight elevator that had been used recently.

Two days ago

"Unfortunately, you actually managed to escape those lobsters," Blowhole continued force Rico to relive his most painful memories, "I believe you managed to jump up to a stalactite, then jump from that one to the next and so on and so forth until you made it back to where your friends were waiting."

Rico landed beside Skipper and Kowalski, just in time to see Blowhole hit the self destruct and drive as fast as he could towards the pool of water in the center of the room. Skipper and Kowalski had started to follow. "WAIT," Rico shouted, "Rose, is still in the building."

"Any idea where," Skipper replied.

"Probably in the lab," Rico called over his shoulder as he started in that direction. The building started to collapse behind them. They didn't have much time.

Rico had been correct about the lab. Rose was inside. She was struggling against the straps that held her to the table. Rico doubled his pace, racing towards the table faster than he had ever run before. A rock, small enough not to be noticed by Rico or any of the other penguins, fell towards the shelves above her causing them to give way, dropping the chemicals they contained onto the struggling penguin. She choked, and struggled harder, then stopped moving. "Kowalski, analysis!" Skipper shouted at his teammate. "She's still breathing, for now. I don't know what those chemicals were, but they've obviously done damage," Kowalski reported, as Rico smashed the restraints and started to carry her towards the exit at as fast a pace as he could manage.

"Done some damage, understatement of the year," Blowhole laughed as if it was some kind of joke, "She ended up in a coma. I believe she still is. You've visited her every year since the accident. Never found another girl since." Rico was glad it was over. Blowhole had gone through pretty much every memory that hurt to relive. "Let me see, anything else to do. Ah yes, my hologram projector. Now we can review all those moments just like the day they happened." Blowhole told his prisoner as he hit the repeat button on the hologram projector. He was going to make Rico watch his memories, again and again and again.

"NO!" Rico screamed as realistic holograms started to replay his family's death.

There were two floors, the one he was on and the one below. Skipper pressed the button for the latter. The elevator arrived at the lower floor. He exited into a hallway. A very surprised lobster stood waiting for the elevator. Skipper easily silenced him out before he could raise the alarm. Fortunately, that was the only lobster in sight. Skipper continued down the corridor till he reached the end, where there was a door. He could hear voices from the other side.

"So how long has he been in there?" the first lobster asked the one next to him. They were standing on the other side of the door. The room seemed to be some kind of cafeteria. There were about nine lobsters standing around. "Who? Blowhole? Couple of days, lotta noise from that penguin. I've heard a lotta nasty things since I started workin' for Blowhole, but this takes first prize." the lobster standing next to him replied. "Serves 'em right. Just last week, that leader guy, the short one, blew up the last place. My brother was in there." a third lobster added. "So was mine," Growled Skipper. He had been watching from the air vent that traveled between the two rooms. "What was that," whispered the first lobster. Skipper climbed out of the air vent, landing on top of the two crustaceans. "It's him, the guy I was talkin' about!" the third lobster shouted, spotting Skipper, "Lets get im'. For Marty!"

"For Marty!" the other lobsters shouted as they charged towards Skipper. They were easily defeated. However, that last comment got Skipper thinking. It had never occurred to him that the lobsters might have families too. Because of this he only knocked them out.

"What's all the noise!?" Blowhole shouted angrily, entering through the door on the opposite side of the room. "Where's Rico!?" Skipper demanded, raising his knife, ready to throw it at the deranged dolphin.

"You can have him." Blowhole replied smugly.

"I can what?"

"I said you can have him," Blowhole smiled, "After I've blown up the base."

"You always do that, I always get out."

"I don't want you dead. I want you to live with the thought that you couldn't save him. However, I don't plan on spending the rest of my days in jail," Blowhole hit the self destruct button, "You have thirty seconds." Blowhole pressed a button on his segway. A cable, with some kind of magnet on the end dropped from a hole in the ceiling, attached itself to Blowhole's transportation and lifted him up and out of the room as the rest of the room started to collapse.

Skipper ran for the door on the other side of the room and looked inside. True to his assumption Rico was inside. He was strapped down to the table and surrounded by various hologram projectors, that were now switched off. Skipper couldn't see if he was conscious or not. Without warning a section of the roof above Rico collapsed, blocking the door and burying Rico. Skipper tried to move the rocks blocking the door, but they were too heavy. Then, Skipper remembered the air vent over the other door. The door he stood in front of did too. He grappled up to the aforementioned vent. It wasn't blocked. Skipper jumped down into the other room. Rico's leg was pinned under a slab of concrete. Across Rico's beak, a heavy rock had fallen, leaving a long, deep cut. However, what worried Skipper more was the possibility of any brain damage done by that same rock. Skipper made a quick examination of Rico. He was unconscious and probably had a broken leg. Satisfied that his friend was breathing, he removed the tripod from one of the hologram projectors, and used it to leaver the slab of concrete off of Rico's foot. Then he force-regurgitated a stick of dynamite and used this to blow up the rubble blocking the door. Skipper made it out of Blowhole's lair, carrying Rico the entire time, with ten seconds to spare. He watched as the entire building crumbled to dust. Rockgut rushed out of the car to assist with Rico. Before he knew it, he and Rico were on a flight to JFK. However, his friend would never be the same again.


	14. Swimming Alone

"We still don't know, to this day, whether it was the torture or the brain damage that caused Rico's psychotic tendencies." Skipper finished the story. Kowalski untied Rico's beak. Rico automatically regurgitated a knife and cut himself, and the others lose. Skipper turned around. Kowalski was pointing the flamethrower at his own head. "Hover Dam! Kowalski..."  
"Don't you get it Skipper? I'm the sleeper agent." Kowalski interrupted, "Nobody can back up what I was doing while you were in Denmark. Hell, I don't know what I was doing. I just figured I'd accidentally amnesia sprayed myself. Blowhole would have had plenty of time while you were staying with Oktavia to brainwash me."  
"It could be Rico. Blowhole had him for two weeks."  
"Rico was brain damaged. If he was programmed to obey Blowhole, it wouldn't have worked after that. Private was still at the academy. Also, remember when you lost your memory? You claimed to have some kind of spirit guide. I've been having the same thing, except it was Chuffy. He kept telling me that one of us was a sleeper agent, that I used to know, but that part of my mind had been blocked off."  
"That would explain the strange behavior," Private added, "But couldn't that mean that the sleeper agent used the Mindjacker we confiscated to erase that knowledge from your memory?"  
"My being the sleeper agent explains the whole mutiny. The Kowalski you saw, Private, wasn't a hologram, it really was me. I was programmed to think I was in Florida. Also, I'm the only one of us who knows how to replace the voice chip in Rico's doll.  
"It still could have been the hard light projector suit." Private replied desperately.  
"The hard light projector suit couldn't have been used, because I'm the only one who knows how to work it. I'm finishing myself off before I hurt anyone else"

Skipper looked at his feet. There was no denying it, but he couldn't lose another member of his team. "Kowalski, if you kill yourself, we lose our only lead. Somewhere in your mind, the name of the person who brainwashed you is still there."  
"If I can't get at it, neither can you."  
"You'd be surprised."

A few days later the penguins started to fight. "Skipper, I cant wait any longer. Unlike you, some of us have a life outside our job." Private shouted at his commanding officer, "We don't even have a job. We've been cut off from headquarters for years."  
"We still have to protect the Central Park Zoo, Private..."  
"I'm not a Private, Skippah. I was promoted a long time ago. I was even offered a commission, but I turned it down so I could stay on this team. Its been ten years, Skippah. We've been pretending we're 25 for too long, and all because you're afraid to face the real world. Those words you live by, what are they again? "The mission goes on." they used to mean something. You've turned it into denial. Consider this my resignation."  
"Private, listen to me. Out there, you're up against the whole penguin corps."  
"There's a reason we're enemy no. 2. We're the best team out there."  
"Ten years ago, we were the best there was. Not anymore. They're are stronger, faster, smarter teams out there. They will hunt you, and your family down, then kill you if you resist arrest, or if they decide they don't like you." Private continued to walk away. "Do you really think they will let you live because you have a family? They will torture you, and your family to get to me."  
"You're just paranoid Skippah." Private replied "No, I'm not. Do you know how I know this? I know, because I've had to do things, just like that, to people just like you. That's why I can never sleep at night."  
"I'll take my chances on a fair trial."  
"This isn't the Lunicorns. Even if you make it to trial, even if you're aquitted, do you have any idea just how many enemies you've made? Blowhole will do the same thing to your wife, as he did to my wife." Skipper screamed. He was on the verge of tears. Private walked out of the safe house. Before he was out of sight, Private called over his shoulder, "Don't try to follow me."

A few days later Rico started to lose it. "ri id oo i oo eh," Rico growled at his leader. The more emotional he got, the harder it was to understand what he was saying. However, Skipper knew Rico well enough to know he meant: "Why did you lie to me?" Skipper always thought it was better not to tell Rico about his past. Even after the brain damage, he had remembered a few things, but very vaguely. He remembered that Manfridi and Johnson had died, but not how. That was why Skipper always told those ridiculous stories, to try to convince Rico they weren't real. When Rico mistook his doll for Rose, and started to call her Miss Perky, Skipper never corrected him. However, every year, Skipper visited the real Rose in Rico's place. Skipper had also told Rico he was born with his speech disability and ability to carry objects in his gut. Rico never questioned this because he trusted Skipper. "The decision I made seemed like the right one at the time. I thought that it was kinder to lie to you, than to tell you what your past was really like." Skipper replied. Rico looked his leader in the eye, before turning to leave. "Rico! We're a team!" Skipper shouted after him. Rico stopped. "ot any ore." he replied sadly. Just like that, another team member was gone.

Kowalski had chained himself to one of the desks and told Rico to swallow the key. Every day Skipper brought him food. He never ate more than a quarter of the fish. "Snap out of it, Kowalski. You can't live the rest of your life, drowned in self pity." Skipper shouted at the depressed penguin.  
"There's nothing else left Skipper. I'm a danger to everyone around me. I told you, leave me. I'm not worth it." Kowalski replied.  
"Dammit, Soldier, I'm not going to leave you behind."  
"Maybe, I'm just one of those penguins you're supposed to leave behind." Skipper glared at him, but he was actually angry at himself. "Maybe your right. If you wanna die, don't let me stop you." Skipper marched out of the headquarters.

As soon as Skipper was out of earshot. Kowalski's dejected form snapped to attention. He switched on a com link he had hidden behind his back. "Objective reached. The team had disbanded." Kowalski listened to someone on the other end of the call. "I will return immediately." the brainwashed penguin replied. Skipper had left the key to the handcuffs next to him. Kowalski unchained himself and marched, mechanically, towards the exit.

Skipper and the other penguins were hiding under one of the beds. "I guess he bought it Skippah." Private whispered to his leader. Skipper smiled. "We have our mastermind, men."

**I've tried to give Private and Rico bigger parts. I hadn't realized until recently that they'd hardly done anything. Ah well. Sorry to anyone who wanted a bit more on Susan.**


	15. Denmark Again

The team had followed Kowalski to a small, and isolated hotel in Vermont. Kowalski had entered through the front door. "So, do we just walk in through the front door?" Private asked.

"I don't... I mean... We could? No, Its probably covered," guessed Skipper, "It's hard not being able to ask Kowalski for options. Right, um, lets see if any of the upper windows are open." Rico shook his head.

"It is winter, Skippah. Won't all the windows be shut?"

"Damn. Didn't think of that. er... Any suggestions?"

"Kaboom!?" Asked Rico tentitivly.

"Oh, what the hell," Skipper chuckled, "Try and guess where everyone is, and don't hit anything structural." Rico grinned, climbing down the tree they were perched on and belly-slid to the side of the house. He started to examine one of the walls. When he was satisfied that the explosion would have the desired results he placed the charges and motioned for the others to join him. "Okay?" Rico asked. Skipper and Private took cover behind a nearby rock. "Whenever your ready." Replied Skipper. Rico took a few steps back and hit the detonator.

Kaboom! The wall collapsed causing a gigantic cloud of dust to rise from the fallen bricks, obscuring the room behind. "I'm guessing that was Rico's idea, but I gotta say, that was a pretty lucky guess on Rico's part, found me strait away." A familiar voice mocked. The speaker was still obscured by the dust. "Manfridi?" Asked Skipper. The dust started to clear, revealing the speaker. "Glad to know you still remember me. I hope it was because your guilty conscience never gave you a minute's peace." Skipper could see the pure hatred burning in the supposedly deceased penguin's eyes. "I...I...You're..."

"Dead Skipper? No, not dead, but I was pretty near, when Hans found me. After you left, the lobsters followed, I was lying on the floor, watching as my blood pooled on the ground, and wondering how much longer I had left." Skipper stared at him, shocked, "You know, that kind of thing has a tendency to happen when your teamate leaves you to fight off an army of lobsters with only one flipper not chained to a table." Manfridi replied sarcastically, he took a deep breath, " I'd thought I was done for, then hans pulled me out, just before the explosion, and patched me up." Hans waved to the penguins sarcastically. He had a sickeningly fake "Just doing my job, 'cause i'm such a nice arch enemy" expression on his face. Skipper had been so shocked by Manfridi's appearance, that he had failed to notice the deranged puffin.

"Where's Kowalski," demanded Private, thinking about Manfridi's supposed fate reminded the younger penguin of his fellow teammate.

"You wish to know where Kowalski is? Very well." Hans replied as he motioned to someone standing in the corner, and Kowalski stepped out of the shadows. "Now, Manfridi, I know I promised that you could kill Skipper, would you mind if I Kowalski on the other three."

"Go ahead." Manfridi and Kowalski started to walk towards their respective targets. "Oktavia! Kowalski, attack Hans, now!" Private shouted. Kowalski turned around to face Hans. "You guessed the control word?!" Hans asked, surprised, "But... How?"

"You evil geniuses really must learn not to use the same password for everything," Private replied.

"Oktavia. Kowalski, attack Private,"

"Oktavia. Kowalski, attack Hans."

"Oktavia. Kowalski, attack Private."

Meanwhile, Skipper had his own problems. "Why do you want to kill me, Manfridi?" Skipper asked his opponent. "Because you killed Johnson, because you allowed me to 'swim alone', because you never bothered to check if the abort switch was wired to the self destruct."

"The Tri-state area was going to be reduced to a nuclear wasteland in three seconds!"

"It would have taken you one second to check the switch, you had the time. Was I really so expendable?"

"I made a mistake. A mistake, I have regretted every second of my life since the day you died."

"Then, after that," Manfridi continued, ignoring Skipper's comment, "you were so afraid that other penguins would feel the same way about my supposed death as I did, that you told everyone Blowhole had done it." The two penguins were trading punches at the speed of light. Before, when Manfridi was on the team, Skipper could had beaten him easily, but Manfridi had obviously learned some new moves.

"Manfridi, I didn't kill Johnson,"

"You held the knife to his throat."

"I wasn't going to kill him. I was bluffing, you knew that." Manfridi kicked Skipper's legs out from under him. Skipper landed hard, stunning him for a few seconds. Luckily for him, Manfridi kept talking instead of pressing his advantage. "The worst part was that you told Oktavia. You could have just stayed away, let her think I'd left for America. I guess you were trying to steal her from..." Manfridi was cut off by a kick in the chest.

Hans threw a switch, causing the floor below them to descend. When it stopped, the penguins were in a large cavernous space, with a large computer and a lot of soldiers. Typical, and extreamy predictable evil villain lair. The roof above them slid shut as lights snapped on.

Unlike Manfridi, Skipper took advantage of Manfridi's fall, and dived on top of his opponent, releasing a volley of punches. "It's pretty obvious you aren't thinking strait. It was Hans who set up the whole situation to cause me to kill Johnson. Hans was the one who strapped you to the table, tortured you and armed the missile. I did exactly what you would have done in that situation. I protected the innocent. Hans knew i would do just that the moment he started the countdown. I wasn't trying to steal Oktavia from you. I didn't even know you two were serious. I only did what any decent soldier would. Oktavia would have read what happened to you the next morning in the paper. I thought it would be better if she heard it from me."

"You're lying!" Manfridi used his anger to push Skipper off, and dive for a near by shelf. "Home turf advantage Skipper." Manfridi removed a knife, Skipper recognized it as Johnson's faverite knife, the knife that had killed him "you're going to know exactly how Johnson felt, the moment he realized..."

Skipper had slapped the knife out of Manfridi's hand. It skittered across the floor. Skipper and Manfridi both made a dive for it. Skipper got there first, but Manfridi wasn't going to give up that easily. He grabbed a nearby pipe to block Skipper's swing. Steel ground against steel. Skipper lept backwards on to a shelf. Manfridi followed. The enraged swung his pipe, aiming for Skipper's head. Skipper sidestepped, the pipe struck the area he had been only a few seconds ago with a loud crack. Manfridi swung again. Skipper ducked. Again. Jumped. Again. Blocked. Manfridi realized the futility of this course of action. He raised the pipe as if he was going to go for Skipper's head. As expected he sidestepped. Instead of swinging, Manfridi, elbowed him in the stomach, grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall. Then he grabbed Skipper's wing and twisted it backwards, dislocating the wing. The knife dropped onto the floor. He allowed Skipper to collapse onto the floor. Manfridi raised the knife ready to stab the helpless penguin.


	16. A Good Soldier

**I was so excited to post this chapter that I couldn't wait until tomorrow. I know it kind of spoils the cliff hanger, so sorry about that. **

Manfridi stopped. Why did he stop? He was going to finally get his revenge, but something didn't seem right. The more he thought about it, Skipper was right. He had it all wrong. Manfridi stood up and turned to face Hans. "You planned all of this, didn't you? You trained me to hate Skipper."

"Absolutely."

"Why? Why didn't you just get Kowalski to kill them? Why go to all the trouble to turn me against them, steal the hard light suit, set up the whole mystery. You could have just let me die."

"I think thats pretty obvious, Manfridi. I did it because it was too much fun not too." Hans sighed, "Ah well, all good things must come to an end eventually. Guards, you may kill them now." By this time Skipper was on his feet. Manfridi gave him a look of apology. Skipper nodded. No more was needed than that. Manfridi and Skipper took up defensive position alpha. "Just like old times," Skipper thought.

"Wow," Kowalski groaned. He felt pretty dizzy after that battle of 'Who gets to control Kowalski'.

"Kowalski, options." Private shouted at him. No rest for Kowalski. He examined the scene around him as he stood up, and the world started to come into focus. They were surrounded by more heavily armed puffins than he had ever seen in his life. Throughout the room there were empty shelves. Unfortunately, they were bolted to the wall, so couldn't be used to trap the enemy. There was the computer. Wait a minute! It had to be hooked up to some kind of power source. "Rico, as many bottles of water as I can carry!" Rico obliged. "Private, cover!" Private followed him as he fought his way to the computer. He wondered why Hans hadn't stopped him, but now it seemed obvious that he had his hands full with Skipper and Manfridi.

Kowalski reached the computer. Private held off the puffins as Kowalski rummaged about the weirs behind it. "Kowalski! I cant hold them back much longer!" Private called over his shoulder as he ducked under a punch. Kowalski emptied the bottles of water onto the floor, being careful not to get any near, or behind the computer. He had found the wires he wanted. "Private, on the count of three, we both dive behind the computer, understood."

"Yes, sir." Private's military training had kicked in. "One, two, THREE!" Private dived behind the computer. The puffins charged towards them, stepping on to the wet floor. Kowalski threw the wires at the large pool of water. When Kowalski poked his head around the computer, 20 electrocuted puffins were lying on the floor. However, this was only a fraction of the army they were up against. Rico had managed to get his hands on a couple of the puffin's firearms, and was now jumping from shelf to shelf, shooting at the enemy from above. Private looked at him, "Options?" he asked. Kowalski gritted his teeth. Skipper wasn't going to like this. "Tactical retreat," He ordered.

Skipper and Manfridi had, so far, been fairly successful at fighting Hans. They had the weapons advantage, as Manfridi still had the knife, Hans only had a gun, which wasn't loaded. He used this to block and counter some of Manfridi's attacks. However, Hans was surrounded by his minions, who's guns were loaded. At first Skipper had wondered why he hadn't grabbed a gun from one of them, but as the battle had gone on, realized that the sick puffin liked close range combat. Unfortunately, both penguins had started to tier. Skipper's previously dislocated shoulder hurt like hell. With Manfridi's help he had managed to put it back into place, but it didn't stop hurting. Manfridi swung at Hans. However, as the penguin turned to complete his turning roundhouse kick, Hans hit him over the head with his gun, stunning him long enough to take the knife. Manfridi rolled out of the way before Hans could stab him in the back. Skipper attempted to use a similar move to the one Manfridi had used on him earlier. However, Hans saw this coming, and kicked Skipper in the kneecap causing him to stumble. Hans followed this with an elbow to the side of the face, then a knee to the stomach. With Skipper's guard down, Hans grabbed his throat, and placed his foot behind Skipper's as he pushed Skipper backwards. The foot behind Skipper's prevented Skipper from regaining his balance.

Hans raised the knife, much like Manfridi had, and brought it down. A blur of black and white feathers pushed Skipper out of the way at the last minute. "Argh!" The knife caught Manfridi in the abdomen. Hans went to strike again. Skipper grabbed a gun from a fallen puffin. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? Skipper shot Hans twice in the chest. Suddenly every puffin in the room froze. Hans smiled through his pain. "Skipper, you ignorant son of a... cough...cough. You've done nothing by killing me. I have a lieutenant, just waiting to replace me."

"Then I'll kill him too."

"This is a major organization Skipper, there will always be more. All you've done is earn their everlasting hatred...cough...cough... They'll hunt you, wherever you go. They'll kill your friends too, if they're in the way. You'll be alone the rest of your life, because whoever you go near, ends up... cough...cough..."

"'Bout time he shut up." Manfridi joked, struggling to hide his pain. A puffin, who had recovered from his shock a little faster than the others, charged forward. Bang! Skipper really wasn't in the mood. "Let me see the wound."

"Just a flesh wound," Manfridi stood up, leaning heavily against the wall. Skipper ripped the flipper away from the wound. "That isn't a flesh wound." Skipper was furious.

"Skipper!" Kowalski called, running towards them, "Skipper, the puffins are getting their act together. We need to get out of here now! Manfridi, can you walk?"

"Yeah." Kowalski pointed towards a nearby door. The penguins moved towards the door as fast as Manfridi could. When they had gotten through, Manfridi hurriedly typed something into a keypad, next to the door. The metal door slid shut. "behind there's an elevator. Thats the exit." Manfridi pointed at a door at the end of the hallway, "I don't know the codes for that one." the penguins were already walking down the hallway. Behind them they could here the puffins banging on the door with some sort of battering ram. "We have approximately two minutes before they get through the door." Kowalski reported. "Does that give you enough time to hack the lock?" Asked Skipper. "Probably," Replied Kowalski, they had almost reached the end of the hallway, "It'll be close, though."

"They won't make it," Manfridi thought. Kowalski was almost done, but the puffins were almost through the door. Kowalski unlocked the door. Manfridi turned to Skipper. "You won't make it out of the grounds with them this close behind us." Manfridi told his friend, "I'll buy you some time." Skipper knew Manfridi well enough to know what Manfridi was suggesting even before he had said it.

"I won't lose you again." Skipper replied. Kowalski unlocked the door. Rico levered it open with his crowbar. "I'm going to bleed out soon anyway, I'm going to have to be left behind." Manfridi replied sadly, looking back at the trail of blood on the floor. "I won't leave a man behind, I swore that after you and Johnson... didn't come back."

"I'm dead anyway, Skipper." The logical part of Skipper knew that by the time they reached a hospital, Manfridi would have lost too much blood. However, that was an answer he just couldn't accept. The door on the other end of the hallway crashed to the floor. The puffins charged towards them. "I won't lose you again!" Skipper repeated as he gripped Manfridi's flipper. Manfridi karate chopped him on the back of the neck, knocking him out. "Sorry Skipper." Manfridi tossed Skipper 's limp form into the elevator and hit the button to send them to the surface. Kowalski and Rico didn't understand what Manfridi was doing until it was too late. They banged on the doors of the elevator. They could see Manfridi through the two windows in the doors. The dying penguins saluted them, "It's been an honor." then the puffins were on him like a pack of wild dogs.


	17. They Grow Up So Fast

The three penguins watched as the house burned. As usual the self destruct protocol had been initiated, destroying their last hope of seeing their friend, and clearing their names. Skipper groaned. "We should leave before Skipper wakes up." Kowalski stated emotionlessly. The other two penguins nodded, turning away from the burning house. Rico regurgitated a sled and lifted Skipper on to it. "ere oo ee o?" Asked Rico. The other two penguins looked at each other. Kowalski hadn't thought of where they were going to go. "We aren't too far from me and Susan's house." Private suggested, "I always wanted it to be in Nova Scotia, but I had to pick somewhere a bit closer to the team." Private added.

"Manfridi, NO!" Skipper woke up, sitting bolt upright. He looked around him, he wasn't in Hans' lair anymore. He was sitting on a bed covered by a home made quilt. The room also contained a chest of drawers, a chair, a desk, and a door that probably led to an en suit bathroom. There was another door on the other side of the room. Skipper opened it. It led to a hall way, with three other doors, probably bedrooms, and a staircase. At the bottom was another hallway. The first door led to a dining room, connected to a modern kitchen by a door, which was open. "Where's Manfridi? You stopped him, right?" Kowalski looked up from the map he was examining.

"Skipper..."

"Just give it to me strait, Kowalski. Did he make it out or not?"

"He... Didn't make it out."

Skipper sat down at the table. His head in his hands."Dammit. I should have seen it coming. I should have knocked him out first. Hell, I should have stayed behind."

"There was nothing you could have done. He was already dead."

"There must have been something we could have done to stop the bleeding. I could have given him a transfusion, I could have done something."

"Skipper, there was nothing any of us could have done to save him. You need to understand that. Manfridi understood that. Thats why he did what he did."

"The..." Skipper stopped. He remembered what Private had said. He had to stop hiding. He couldn't stay in denial forever. Skipper stepped back into the hallway, and for the first time in his life, allowed himself to cry.

Private was cutting vegetables in the kitchen. Beside him, Susan was preparing the fish. His knife slipped, but he could feel the pain. His wing continued to bleed on to the cutting board. It was nothing compared to Manfridi. He felt a flipper on his shoulder. "Hey, look at me." Private could see her sapphire eyes gazing into his. He looked away. "Hey. Snap out of it," Private looked up, "Look, I cant pretend to imagine what you guys do when you go out there. Frankly, I don't want to know, but you have to keep going. Your gonna be a father, you know." She grabbed a cloth and held it to his hand until it stopped bleeding. "I... Just felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do."

"You're upset about the killing, aren't you," She smiled comfortingly, "You cant hide that kind of stuff from me."

"It was the look in Skipper's eyes. I'd never seen it before until a few weeks ago. He just killed them, without any thought. He's been so... brutal. I saw it in his eyes when he shot Hans."

"He's been through a lot. I guess he takes it out on others."

"No its not that. Kowalski told me, he was always like that, before this team. It was like he had no conscience." Private went beck to cutting vegetables. Susan knew not to press him any further.

Dinner was served. Susan carried the plates of fish and other vegetables into the dining room. The other penguins had moved to the living room. Private watched as they filed back in. Skipper was the last to enter. He wasn't the emotional wreck Private expected him to be. He looked at Private, checking that he was all right. He hadn't seen either Private or Susan yet. Private broke the silence. "Uh... Skipper, this is Susan. Susan, Skipper."

"Ma'am." Skipper nodded in greeting.

"Hi." Susan replied. Looking at Skipper slightly oddly.

"Skipper can be a bit formal at times." Private explained.

"Correct military conduct, ma'am." Skipper glared at the Kowalski and Rico. They had obviously been a bit more informal in their greetings. Susan burst out laughing.

"What?" Skipper asked, perplexed by her response. She looked back at him.

"And I always thought you were exaggerating the discipline." Private gave her an "I told you so" look.

"Skippah, you don't have to be so formal."

"So... um... nice place, Private." Truthfully, it was almost heartbreaking to see Private with his own house. He felt much the same way a father does when his son leaves for collage.

"I told you, sometimes people do make money off of the stock market." Rico flinched, remembering the reason behind his father's death. "I still think it's all big conspiracy," Skipper retorted, not noticing Rico's reaction.

"So what happened next?" Susan asked, trying to contain her laughter.

"Well," replied Private, " Just when we thought we were licked, Skipper jumped out, put on a superhero mask, and proceeded to fight Julian. What was it you called yourself?"

"Slappy hurt punch," Rico contributed. The whole room erupted into laughter.

"Says the guy who had a toilet seat strapped to his back," Skipper replied, causing even more laughter. "We did a lot crazy things when we were younger, Skippah."

"Yes indeed," Kowalski chuckled, "Private, remember that time when Skipper thought he was a..."

"Thats classified," Skipper cut in turning bright red.

"It was recently de classified. Nice try Skipper," Kowalski smirked.

"Skipper's just embarrassed because he went running around the central park zoo wearing a pink hair bow thinking he was a girl." Private teased, "The best part was when..." Private was cut off by a buzzing in Rico's stomach. He promptly regurgitated Kowalski's tablet. Kowalski took one look at the screen, and instantly his expression changed. "They've found us."


	18. Operation: Steal the Enemy's Car

"Who's found you?" Susan asked, suddenly very nervous.  
"Classified," Kowalski replied hurriedly, "Private, we need to get Susan out of here before any shooting starts." Private nodded.  
"Are we talking puffins or Penguin Corps?" Skipper demanded as Rico regurgitated various weapons.  
"Both." Kowalski replied grimly, "Seems they're approaching from opposite sides of the house, neither one knows the other is there. We wouldn't have known either if they hadn't set off any of the motion activated cameras."  
"WAIT A MINUTE. You set up cameras in my house?!" Susan screamed.  
"Now really isn't the time, Ma'am," Skipper replied, "Kowalski. Analysis, then options based on the analysis."  
"Well, between the puffins and the Penguin Corps, there's a solid perimeter around the house. Both sides are heavily armed, in other words, we cant take either of them head on. I suggest that we either: hope that a space squid crash lands on the Penguin Corps and puffins before they shoot us, negotiate a peaceful surrender, or trick the puffins and penguins into fighting each other allowing us to escape via the car the Penguin teams have left unguarded."  
"Sounds like a plan, Operation: steal the enemy's car is a go."

An arrow struck one of the puffins, who was standing fairly close to their newly appointed leader. All eyes snapped to the bushes from which the arrow came. A flash of black and white raced from the bushes, towards the house, and around the corner. As the penguin ran he shouted, "Kowalski, they've seen me!"  
"Skipper," Growled the puffin's leader, recognizing the voice. The puffins charged towards the other side of the house, only to find roughly six teams of penguin commandos. Skipper was nowhere to be seen. The two sides stared at each other for a few seconds, neither side had expected the other.

By this time Skipper and the others were running towards the drive way. They were almost in view of both the puffins and penguins. However, if everything went to plan, both sides would be two busy fighting to notice their targets walking past them. The had almost rounded the corner, when the puffins did the last thing anyone expected, and ran. Luckily, the disorganized puffins ran past without noticing the fugitives. Unfortunately, the penguin teams were more observant. They surrounded Skipper and his team, ignoring the fleeing puffins. Skipper looked at Susan. He would never forgive himself if she had to go through the horrific tortures he had undergone in Denmark. The tortures that had caused his fear of needles. That was what awaited her if she withheld information, which is exactly what she would do.

Skipper grabbed Susan by her flipper and held her in front of him. He pulled out his gun and pointed it to her head. "Anyone shoots and the b!#$& gets it!" Skipper shouted. Private ran forward to protect her, but Kowalski, who had worked out what Skipper was up to, held him back. Private struggled against the taller penguin. "Stand down, Skipper. Please, you really don't want to do this. Let the hostage go." Agent Thomas Hardy, Skipper's counterpart, ordered. He knew the officer from his days at the Academy.  
"Come on, Tommy. Like I'd fall for that one. You'd just shoot me." Skipper replied sarcastically.  
"Skipper, I won't unless I have to, you know that. Just let her go." Hardy replied. Skipper knew, regardless of he and Tommy's past friendship, that if he tried to use Susan to escape, they would shoot anyway. He had made similar decisions in the past. He whispered something in the terrified woman's ear, then let her go. She ran away from Skipper as fast as she possibly could. Skipper dropped his gun and raised his flippers above his head.  
"I surrender."

"What did you think you were doing, Skippah!" Private yelled at the penguin in the cell next to him. Skipper poked his head through the bars of his cell and looked at Private. "Shut up before someone hears you!" Skipper whispered back angrily.  
"How could you use my fiancée as a human shield?!" Private whispered back.  
"Don't you get it Private? By convincing everyone else she was an innocent hostage, they would assume she didn't know anything."  
"But you put her in danger!"

Skipper grabbed Susan by her flipper and held her in front of him. "Stand down, Skipper. Please, you really don't want to do this. Let the hostage go." Hardy ordered.  
"Come on, Tommy. Like I'd fall for that one. You'd just shoot me." Skipper replied sarcastically. Susan was shaking with fear. Skipper wanted to explain to her that it was all part of the plan to get her out of here, but needed her to be convincing.  
"Skipper, I won't unless I have to, you know that. Just let her go." Hardy replied. Skipper was originally going to trade her for the freedom of his friends, two birds with one stone, but realized that he had already pushed Hardy far enough. He had to convince Hardy that she was a hostage, but had to make sure no harm came to her. He knew that if the Penguin Corps suspected that she knew anything, they would torture her until she talked. "Listen," Skipper whispered in the terrified woman's ear, "as soon as I let you go, I want you to run away from me as fast as you can, don't look back. When they ask you what happened, say we burst into your house and locked you up. You don't know who we are or why we're here, understand? Nothing you tell them will convince them we are innocent so don't try. Just forget about us. Don't try and play the romantic hero, Private would want you to live the rest of your life free." Skipper let go of her. She did exactly as she was told. Skipper hoped, for her sake, she would never see them again.

"Sorry Skippah, I really shouldn't have doubted you." Private apologized.  
"I'm just glad you didn't shout out her name, or do something stupid. That would have given the whole game away." Skipper accepted Private's apology.

"Special agent, Skipper, real name classified at this point in time, Major Kowalski, Major Rico, Captain Thomas Hughes." Brigadier general Harvey Marston. These were the team's official ranks before they were cut off from the Corps. "How do you plead?" The Brigadier General continued. The penguins had been denied a proper courts-martial due to the secrecy of their mission. Instead their case was being heard by a senior officer. Skipper had pulled some strings, how he did this nobody knows, and managed to get Brigadier General Harvey Marston. He had been the head of the Academy while Skipper was attending, Skipper had been his favorite student. Skipper hoped this, and the fact that he had been honorably acquitted of a mutiny charge himself, would make him more sympathetic to their case.  
"Not guilty, your honor." Kowalski answered  
"ra ilty, or ronner" Rico replied.  
"Not guilty, your honor." Private followed suit.  
"Guilty, your honor."

**This is the second to last chapter, unless I do an epilogue. I had originally did some research on the actual punishments and courts-martial procedure, but I realized that if I followed the real rules, it would interfere with the plot. So courts-martials dont actually work like this.**


	19. A Team Without A Leader

The penguins stared at Skipper, speechless. "Its the truth, I set you up."

"Think you'd better explain," Brigadier General Marston replied, just as shocked as the rest of the team.

Skipper smirked, "Oh, it was so obvious, I can't believe you idiots didn't guess from the start," Skipper had a crazed look, far more terrifying than Rico's the day he and King Julian had almost blown up the zoo, "I'd always known Hans had brainwashed Kowalski while everyone else was in Denmark, I also knew Hans was only waiting for the right moment to use him, so I handed it to him on a plate. I sent Kowalski to Florida and used the hard light suit to impersonate Chuffnell. Then I returned to base, where the team thought I was off on some secret mission, and impersonated Kowalski, Hans saw the opportunity and did the rest. The puffin fell right into my trap. All I needed was for him to activate Kowalski and lead me right to him."

"What about your team, they could have gotten them killed!?" Marston replied.

"They were expendable." A hush fell across the room. After a few seconds, Skipper broke the silence, "Anyway, I only used the team to get to Hans. It worked, along with a few bonuses along the way, like killing Rockgut and Manfridi again. Really, who do you think drove Rockgut off the deep end? Me!"

"So why are you telling us this?" Asked Marston, he had a feeling he knew what Skipper was up to.

"I'm telling you this? Because I'm dead already, regardless of what I do. I just wanted all of you to know that I'm the genius, not Hans!" Skipper burst into psychotic laughter.

Brigadier General Marston was close to tears as he sentenced the bravest penguin he had ever known, to death. The three acquitted penguins watched as Skipper was led back to his cell. Kowalski wanted nothing more than to shout out the truth, but he knew that it would hurt Skipper far more to see his team fall with him, than to fall alone. The three penguins stood to attention, as their leader passed. It was the least he could do. "it's been an honor, sir," Kowalski whispered. He would never know if Skipper heard him.

Agent Hardy led Skipper down the corridor to his cell, he unlocked the door and entered the cell with the prisoner. Skipper turned, to see his friend looking down at his feet, his face a mixture of sadness and guilt. "Hey... Skippy... I... I... That was extremely brave, and... and honorable. If there's anything I can do... before... I will." Agent Hardy turned to leave. "Hey, Tommy," Skipper called after him as he left the cell, "Don't call me Skippy." Agent Hardy smiled at the old school joke.

"I miss him, Kowalski," Private spoke, breaking the silence that had enveloped the group since they had returned home three days ago. "As do I," Kowalski replied. Rico made a grunt to the same effect. The news had spread around the zoo like wildfire. It had hit everyone hard, especially Marlene. Many of the animals had wanted to give Skipper a hero's funeral, but Kowalski had declined this. He knew that this would be the last thing Skipper would have wanted.

Spontaneously, Rico stood up and banged his flipper on the table. "Stop it," He grunted. The two penguins looked up, "Ipper oudn't on iss." Kowalski's brow furrowed, as if he was stuck on an equation that just didn't make sense. Then he nodded, "Your right, Rico. Skipper wouldn't want this. He'd want us to carry on," Kowalski stood up and attempted to to give them the order to go topside for exercises, but he just couldn't do it. Nobody could possibly replace Skipper, least of all him. He stopped pacing and faced the team, "I... I... I can't do this. I can't be a leader. Hell, I'm just a glorified analyst." He turned around and started to walk towards the lab. Private put a hand on his shoulder, and turned him around to face him. He glared at the older penguin for a few seconds then slapped him. "Don't even think about it!" Private shouted in his face, just like Skipper used to, "You may not be a leader now, but your going to have to be one. You dont have a choice." Kowalski was absolutely stunned. Private had slapped him!

"You just slapped a senior officer, soldier." Kowalski scolded.

"Thats better," smiled Private.

**Last chapter! Well, I decided to do one more after this. It adds yet another twist to the plot, so don't give up on me yet because you hate me for killing Skipper. Sorry it took me so long to update, but I was really struggling on how I should end this.**


	20. Epilogue

Two months later

Skipper watched from a nearby tree as Kowalski drilled the other two penguins. "Private your kick needs to be exactly 0.87cm higher."

"Eye, eye, Kowalski." Private replied. Skipper chuckled. He would have given Private fifty push ups for that. He would have giving Kowalski more for using the metric system. He adjusted his binoculars. It hurt to be so close and yet so far, but he couldn't go back, not yet. Possibly, never.

Two months and one day ago

Agent Hardy opened the door of the cell, his shoulders slumped and his head down. Skipper nodded understandingly. It was time. The two penguins walked in silence. "Tommy," Skipper looked at the other penguin, "Its not your fault."

"Yes, it is. I brought you in, I should have let you go. All I would have gotten was a reprimand." a tear slid down Hardy's cheek, which he immediately wiped away.

"No it wasn't. It was my decision, I knew you would do what you did. Face it Tommy, if it wasn't my decision, you wouldn't be alive to have this conversation." Skipper replied. Hardy chuckled.

"You could have escaped anytime you wanted, couldn't you?"

"yeah, I could've. I could escape right now."

"Why dont you?"

"Because I'm already dead. Think of it, Tommy, how long would I last with both the Corps and the puffins after me? They'd probably deploy my own team to hunt me down. Thats something I couldn't live with. "

"Why?"

"Because... They're the best there is." The two penguins got to the door. Agent Hardy stopped. "Skippy, do you remember the way we got Johnson out of that mission in Alaska?"

"How could I forget? First and only time one of you surprised me. I never expected Johnson jump out of that body bag as I unloaded it from the plane." Skipper smiled at the memory.

"The look on your face," Hardy smiled at the memory, "I just wish I'd had a camera. Then he got revenge on you setting you up with some danish officer's daughter when we were on leave in Miami. Now that was just plain mean. She was a nice girl, what was her name? Sophie?"

"Low blow, Tommy!" Skipper scolded jokingly.

"Anyway, that was a pretty good way of getting out of a sticky situation. Shame we never really used it much afterward. I can think of a lot a good uses of the top of my head." Hardy smiled deviously.

Now

It was actually a pretty good idea. Skipper had no living relatives so nobody could claim the body and wonder where it had gone. Hardy had him diverted to autopsy, at the very bottom of the priorities list. There he would be able to get out the back door during the coffee break. Unfortunately, one of the the lab assistants, who was suspected of being a double agent, started to wonder why one of the body bags had been sneezing throughout the day. He confirmed the suspicions by selling him out to the puffins. They'd been after him ever since. He'd debated telling his team he wasn't actually dead, but he knew they'd want to help. He couldn't risk their lives in his war. Despite their cowardliness, the puffins were actually quite formidable foes, due to their numbers and relentlessness.

Kowalski looked directly at the tree he was watching from. Damn, the sun must have reflected off the binoculars. He climbed down the tree and belly slid away as fast as he could, the strap of his binoculars catching on the bark of the tree. Maybe, one day, he would be able to come back. But for now, he was on his own.

Kowalski something glinted in the corner of his eye. He turned around. That kind of flash was normally caused by sunlight reflecting off binoculars or a telescope. Someone was watching them. He lifted a flipper, signaling for the other penguins to stop. The glint was followed by a flash of white and black near the base of the tree. Could it be? Skipper? No. Kowalski motioned for the others to resume training. It was probably just an agent come to check on them. He motioned for the others to resume training.

The End

**I wrote this chapter because I couldn't bear to kill off Skipper. I have a feeling most of you will agree with me that Skipper can't die, even for a really heroic reason. Anyway, If any of you are wondering why Chapter 19 doesn't have a proper name, I couldn't think of one. If you can feel free to tell me your ideas! Hope you all liked my story and thanks for reading my story and writing all those amazing reviews!**


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